The Fort Worth CVB entered into a sales partnership with the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) in an effort to cross-promote the destinations to groups that typically book meetings on a geographical rotation.
“Often these groups will choose and East Coast venue one year and move to the Midwest the following year,” said David DuBois, president and CEO of the Fort Worth CVB. “This is a unique opportunity for both cities, and we look forward to the success of this sales and marketing program.”
According to Tom Noonan, president and CEO of BACVA, the dual-city sales and marketing effort is unique.
This type of partnership is a new approach to selling a city,” Noonan said. “I believe it will be an effective sales strategy that will enable us to pool our resources and expose Baltimore to new business that may not be familiar with the Baltimore market.”
According to the convention bureaus, the partnership is based on a national hotel model that encourages groups to sign multiyear contracts that move their meetings to different properties around the country within a specific brand. The cities will have the ability to offer possible discounts for booking both cities, or steer business to each other if one city is not a good fit for a group.
DuBois and Noonan said they are talking with CVBs on the West Coast in hopes to adding a third city to the partnership.
Ann Garvey, who is based in Maryland, is the first manager to be hired under the partnership. She will focus on corporate groups on the East Coast as well as pharmaceutical companies. A second manager will focus on corporate and incentive business in the greater Midwest region.
