Growth sectors in the meetings market may be hard to come by these days, but among those counting good numbers are religious meetings. Sales managers at CVBs, hotels and convention centers know this niche can be counted on to hold steady and even deliver impressive attendance and revenue figures, no matter what the economic climate.
Planners of faith-based meetings are the focus of attention these days, according to DeWayne Woodring, executive director of the Religious Conference Management Association (RCMA).
"Religious meeting planners are finding they are some of the most popular people around these days," he says. "They are being deluged with sales calls, mailings and special invitations to participate in FAM trips.
"Sales professionals realize that through the years the religious segment of the meetings industry has shown to be the one that holds steady. When compared to the more volatile corporate meetings market, it can be counted on to deliver."
According to Woodring, spiritually focused meetings and conferences are recession-proof, stemming from the fact that when times are bleak, the devout turn to their faith for guidance and support. By contrast, the corporate world is economically driven, he adds.
"So when problems arise, they take an immediate toll on business," he says.
Religious meeting planners are usually after the most affordable rates, so they frequently meet during "value" seasons, often summer. This makes them even more attractive to cities seeking to boost their visitor counts and occupancy rates during slower times of the year.
Impressive Numbers
The 2008 RCMA annual survey of meeting planners bears out Woodring’s perspective. Last year, attendees at meetings conducted by RCMA planner members numbered 11.3 million. Conventions and conferences counted for 9.2 million of that total, followed by 530,416 attendees at committee meetings and seminars.
The rest came from retreats and board meetings. Room blocks—many in downtown hotels—were also significant. Groups needing 100 to 200 rooms for their largest meetings accounted for 18 percent, while meetings requiring 10 to 50 rooms came in at 15 percent.
Some cities are seeing much larger numbers from religious meetings.
Dan Williams, vice president of sales for the Cleveland CVB, says some of his city’s largest groups are in this segment.
"Jehovah’s Witnesses met here three consecutive weekends in July, and they brought in about 10,000 on a single weekend, with around 3,500 room nights," he says.
With over 1,000 churches, Williams says Cleveland is a natural choice for many religious groups, including Women of Faith, which draws thousands of attendees to its multicity weekend meetings across the U.S.
"The religious market is one that everyone wants, and with the right incentives they are accessible," he says. "We have targeted the segment for a long time and we’d like to grow it. So we are doing some sales blitzes and offering additional incentives that are more focused on them. Religious meeting planners are not necessarily like their business counterparts."
Live and Personal
Another thing that endears the religious market to cities and their hospitality partners these days is that the segment doesn’t embrace virtual meetings in a big way.
"We want to meet face-to-face because our meetings are all about building relationships, meeting spouses and sometimes bringing the kids along for a mini-vacation," says John Wierenga, annual conference planner for the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants in Grand Rapids, Mich. "We do use webinars with our board for educational purposes because they are helpful and don’t require of us the hassles of travel. These sessions are efficient and literally cost me nothing. What the virtual events do is build us up for getting together for that annual meeting. We can’t wait to see each other."
Wierenga adds that the religious meetings sector has gravitated to shorter-term bookings like just about everyone else, and is enjoying the attention it’s getting from top-tier cities these days.
"My colleagues and I used to book out five years, but that has shortened to maybe three," he continues. "At this time, we’re getting great follow-up and feedback from cities on inquiries we do. They are more willing to do site inspections with us, and the vigor and accommodation with which they serve us is much better than it has been. We just got a great deal for 2010 in Orlando, so we signed for two years in a row."
Midwest Favorites
Even though the sector is not immune to the economy’s impact, groups who favor Midwest destinations find they have some advantage in holding and building attendance because of the region’s great geographic accessibility and affordability.
United Pentecostal Church International convened this fall in St. Louis, drawing nearly 12,000 attendees, although many waited until the last minute to register, says conference coordinator Thomas Jackson. He adds that the city was a great fit for the organization.
"Our headquarters are in Hazelwood, a St. Louis suburb, and it offers us great economic advantages," he says. "We don’t have to truck materials a long way, and it saves us airfare and lodging expenses for staff. Also, the bureau has made it very appealing to us with some nice concessions, so we are considering more years with them."
Robert Olson, a national convention manager focused on the faith market for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, says the sector is about 20 percent of his bureau’s conference market in terms of room nights and annual sales goals.
"The wonderful thing about the religious market is that they typically don’t cancel meetings and many thrive, even in a down economy," he says. "And many are pretty consistent with meeting at the same time every year. Groups like the Church of God and Christ bring in thousands to us annually."
Olson believes one reason for St. Louis’ success is that the CVC understands how the market differs from others.
"The demands for religious groups are different," he says. "You must understand that if they make a request that a hotel have a buffet open at 10 p.m. or a cash-and-carry meal for kids at three or four dollars, they need to do this. These groups often have church services they go to late at night, so they want something to eat after the services. This could mean adjusting their restaurant choices because some would normally be closed. So our convention services people let the restaurants know they can get good business by staying open late."
A Market that Delivers
Kansas City, Mo., and Indianapolis also count their religious meetings attendees in the thousands.
The week before Thanksgiving, Kansas City will welcome the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry attendees, who are expected to bring in 17,000 room nights. Bill Bode, vice president, convention sales for the Kansas City CVB, says his city’s recent $8 billion investment in ramping up its downtown Power and Light District infrastructure is paying off in terms of meetings attendance.
"Going forward to 2010, we will host the National Baptists in September and we’re expecting that group to be about 20,000 people with 14,000 room nights," he says.
While attendees of religious meetings often don’t spend the most on room rates and F&B, they tend to support the retail shops, arts and attractions in the destination, according to Bode.
"Religious planners won’t look at the more expensive cities, but we in the Midwest offer them tremendous value and wonderful accessibility—in the heart of the nation," he says.
Indianapolis is counting over 70 events in the religious segment through 2014, with more than 300,000 expected attendees, according Ronnie Burt, senior vice president, sales and services for the Indianapolis CVB. That includes the annual National Baptists Convention in 2011 with up to 60,000 attendees, and the Church of the Nazarene in 2013 with 35,000 attendees.
"The religious market is very important to us and others because they often meet during ‘need’ periods like summer," Burt says. "We have consistently had more than one salesperson deployed in this segment, so we are constantly supporting and attending the pertinent meetings like RCMA.
"It has historically been one of our top performing segments because of our city’s attributes that appeal to it—location, family friendly, safeness, and walkability. Planners look for all these things in additional to accessibility, and Indy is well positioned in all categories.
