How to stay competitive in the global meetings market? Investing in new and enhanced facilities and infrastructure is one critical part of the equation, but to move the needle truly forward, it takes innovation and new ideas.
Such is the story of the moment in both Canada and Mexico, where government-led initiatives have made the meetings, business events and tourism sectors national priorities.
Rebranded as Business Events Canada, the former MC&IT unit of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is now advancing a sector-specific strategy that uses meetings and conferences to attract new business and investment. In Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto is spearheading a national policy to promote tourism development, with significant investments in infrastructure, transportation and hospitality that naturally benefit the group market.
This September, the Mexico Tourism Board launched its new $43.3 million “Live It to Believe It” marketing campaign in the U.S. and Canada with an event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Addressing the crowd of more than 400 attendees, Eduardo Medina-Mora, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., quoted Marcel Proust in introducing the new marketing campaign.
“The real voyage of discovery does not consist of seeking new landscapes but seeing with new eyes,” Medina-Mora said. “This campaign will transform the way we think of this destination.”
For groups meeting on both sides of the U.S. border, it’s an apt forecast for the fresh focus ahead.
Canada
Long at the forefront of incorporating meetings, conventions and incentive travel in its national economic development strategy, the CTC is relying on its new Business Events Canada (BEC) unit to strengthen the sector’s impact. Announced in early 2013, the creation of BEC underscores the continuing significance of meetings to Canada’s economy and global business ambitions.
No nation leverages investment in its meetings industry like Canada, and via a new global commerce initiative in collaboration with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT), BEC is poised to serve as an energetic new gearwheel in Canada’s economic growth engine.
With DFAIT identifying seven sectors where Canada holds a competitive advantage—aerospace, agriculture/food, clean technology, infrastructure/engineering, information/communication technology, life sciences and natural resources—the plan centers on using meetings and conventions to attract key influencers in each sector and to stimulate interest in Canada as an investment destination. PageBreak
For BEC, the goal is to develop a targeted sales focus around these seven sectors, toward which it is devoting this year to deeply understanding and creating strong relationships with the corporate leaders, specialists, centers of excellence and other resources within each business area.
“The strategic shift into Business Events Canada will create a powerful three-way partnership including DFAIT and Canada’s business champions,” stated Greg Klassen, CTC’s senior vice president, marketing strategy and communications, in a release. “We will show how meetings held in Canada can tempt international delegates from different industries to invest in Canada’s economy and enhance Canada’s brand reputation around the world.”
Bolstering this reputation is Canada’s planner-friendly approach to meetings. Under the International Events and Convention Services Program (IECSP), Canada’s customs service uniquely assists planners in facilitating cross-border meetings, while the Canada Revenue Agency’s foreign convention and tour incentive program provide financial benefits.
According to the CTC, meetings-related business, which accounts for almost 16 percent of overnight visits to Canada, was up 1.1 percent in 2012 over 2011, with a 4.2 percent increase in room nights and 1 percent increase in overall spend. Visitation from the U.S. figures prominently, with U.S. business travelers representing Canada’s second-largest inbound market after U.S. tourists. In 2012, approximately 1.8 million Americans came to Canada for meetings, conferences and incentives, worth an estimated $1.49 billion to the Canadian economy.
To maintain this strong standing while continuing to advance its competitive position, Canada is also investing in new meeting facilities and infrastructure. With a bumper crop of new five-star properties from Four Seasons, Shangri-La, Ritz-Carlton and Trump, Toronto, host of the 2015 Pan Am Games, just completed a three-year, $29 million modernization of the Toronto Metro Convention Centre. It is money well spent; over the past 27 years, the venue has generated an estimated $4.7 billion in economic impact to the Toronto community.
This summer saw the opening of the highly anticipated new Prince Edward Island Convention Centre. Connected to the Delta Prince Edward Hotel, the $24.3 million facility offers 59,000 square feet of meeting and event space that can accommodate as many as 1,500 delegates. Looking further ahead, a brand-new convention center is slated to open in Halifax by 2016. Currently under way with some $2 billion in new convention infrastructure and attractions, Winnipeg is doubling the size of the RBC Convention Centre to 264,000 square feet of space via a $180 million-plus expansion, also scheduled for completion by 2016. Meanwhile, Richmond continues to leverage the infrastructure and elevated profile it gained from its role in the 2010 Olympics, as well as its accessibility due to its close proximity to the airport, to attract events and other group business.
“Conventions and meetings held in Canada can be the first spark that ignites interest in doing business that leads to investment in our country, as well as exploration of the unique experiences that Canada offers international travelers,” Klassen says.PageBreak
Mexico
The people gathered last December at Chichen Itza and other ancient Mayan temples did not witness the end of the world, or as some hoped for, the coming of UFOs, but the dawn of a new era. The same goes for the Mexican government’s new priority focus on attracting leisure and business visitors.
Speaking at an event earlier this year in the western state of Nayarit, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto discussed his vision for a national policy to promote tourism development.
“We have a privileged geographical location, great potential for connectivity, a broad inventory of natural, historic and cultural attractions, but, moreover, our country has demonstrated a great ability to generate quality tourism products,” he said, describing tourism as “a great vehicle for moving toward a more prosperous and inclusive Mexico.”
With Pena Nieto planning the ground-breaking move of personally chairing a “tourism cabinet” comprising officials from different levels of the government, new Secretary of Tourism Claudia Ruiz Massieu has been traveling the globe, from China to the U.S., to promote the administration’s tourism plan, which includes promoting Mexico City as a visitor destination and enhancing the Yucatan Peninsula’s strengths and capabilities as a unified tourism zone. Projects include new rail service from Cancun to the Yucatan capital of Merida, the principal base for exploring the peninsula’s concentration of great archeological treasures, which Mexico Tourism Board CEO Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete likens to those in “China, Egypt and Greece.”
Overall, the government has announced some $25 billion in infrastructure projects, including roads, airports, seaports and communications.
On the meetings and conventions front, Mexico is looking to build on recent successes such as hosting several G20 finance, business and tourism conferences. With the U.S. representing Mexico’s leading international market for both tourist arrivals and meetings-related business, one key strategic focus for Mexico, highlighted at the 2012 PCMA North American Advisory Summit last November in Mazatlan, is selling the unique aspects of the destination.
Exemplifying this strategic approach are Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta, now a major meetings and conventions player with the opening in 2009 of the Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center. The two destinations announced a $10 million joint advertising campaign in September named “Vallarta-Nayarit. Live It to Believe It!” Collaboratively supported by the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta CVBs and regional hoteliers in partnership with top airlines and tour operators, the campaign promotes the many unique experiences for groups and visitors along 192 miles of Pacific coastline.
“Our destination offers a full spectrum of MICE offerings, regardless of the meeting size,” says Marc Murphy, managing director of the Riviera Nayarit CVB. “With hotels accommodating groups up to 1,250 attendees and offering dedicated professionals well-versed in matching any planner needs, our attractions and activities are ideal for coordinating incentive programs or corporate group outings. Whether seeking culture, activity tours or nature, there is something for every traveler.”
With existing meetings properties including the luxurious 173-room Four Seasons Resort, Punta Mita and 495-room Marival Resort and Suites, Nuevo Vallarta, the region, Mexico’s visitor leader for 2013, is currently experiencing $70 million in new coastal hotel development.
“In addition to the new Hard Rock Vallarta Hotel, we have two new resorts opening in 2014 that will enhance our MICE appeal: the Iberostar Playa Mita and the new luxury tower at the Grand Luxxe Nuevo Vallarta,” Murphy says.
Meanwhile, interior cities in Mexico are also stepping up efforts to grow business and become major players in the meetings and conventions market. One such destination that is increasing in popularity among groups is Leon, home to notable venues such as Poliforum Leon, Centro Fox and Guanajuato Cultural Center, spearheaded by Pei Partnership Architects. The destination launched the Meet in Leon program to offer integrated meetings packages to planners.
Longtime Meetings Focus contributor Jeff Heilman’s last Mexican adventure was on the Yucatan Peninsula, including visiting Chichen Itza to make sure the world did not end.
