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Conferences can be a major boost to Prince Rupert tourism

It’s been a great year for tourism so far.

It’s been a great year for tourism so far.

The first quarter numbers for hotel revenue show it as the best first quarter in over a decade. Sure, there is a general recovery in the international tour market, and people are certainly traveling more, but the real reason for our early success this year has been conferences. The NCLGA and Gathering Our Voices conferences, added to events such as the BC Annual Dance Competition, make a huge difference.

We’ve talked about this since before Tourism Prince Rupert was created from the old Visitors’ Bureau 12 years ago. There is somewhat of a “glass ceiling” on summer tourism in Prince Rupert. Particularly with BC Ferries sailings only every second day, our rooms fill to capacity and then empty like the ebb and flow of the tide. Of course we struggle against this, and work to achieve multi-night stays to mitigate this effect, but without daily service we won’t reach the next plateau.

Our best chance for growth lies in the shoulder seasons. We have hotel capacity, and we’re not (normally) in the throes of winter weather. The obvious answer has always been to attract conferences.

We have a few challenges in the conference trade. Until recently, we couldn’t accommodate the mid-range size of conference that Prince Rupert is most suited to host. With the completion of the conference centre this was solved, but in peak season we face issues with room capacity. If we can market ourselves for conferences in spring and fall, however, we have arrived at the most obvious way to dramatically increase our community’s tourism revenue.

This calls for a different sort of marketing. There isn’t really a way to reach all of the groups around the province who might be planning conferences. There is, however, a very effective way of marketing Prince Rupert as a conference destination.

Most of us belong to at least one organization or club of some sort. It might be a professional association, a union, a church group or service club, a sporting organization, or what-have-you. Most of these groups hold at least one large gathering a year. We’re all proud of our community, and would love to host whatever group we belong to in Prince Rupert. The best way to accomplish that is to make sure that the members of each of these local groups have all of the tools to sell their colleagues on the idea of holding a gathering in Prince Rupert.

In 2009 Tourism Prince Rupert secured external funding for a short-term position to help get the community ready for this. A coordinator met with many community groups to explain the steps for arranging local conferences. We even produced a conference planner, a glossy booklet intended to be given to conference organizers to show at a glance how attractive Prince Rupert could be for a conference.

Don’t underestimate the appeal of Prince Rupert. Yes, there are challenges. Transporting delegates in and out of Prince Rupert can be challenging, but it is not an insurmountable challenge. This is especially true when weighed against what we have to offer. Even to those from other parts of the province our coastal lifestyle can seem exotic. We have unique venues for evening receptions, such as the Museum of Northern BC and North Pacific Cannery, and we have the capacity to offer spectacular pre- and post-conference marine tours. We are very well set up for this business.

Conferences provide a huge boost to all aspects of the local economy. Because conference attendees tend to spend higher than people on longer trips, even a small conference can be very beneficial to the community. If your group is interested in putting in a bid for a conference please let us know. We’ll put you in touch with the local professionals who can help make that conference a reality.