St. John's Convention Centre announcement
22 Sep 2011
Destination St. John’s sees the recent investment announced today by federal and provincial governments, for the expansion of the St. John’s Convention Centre, as a major stimulus to increased tourism visitation to the City of St. John’s and to the Province. The approximately $45 million investment into the expansion of the existing convention centre, which includes a $15 million contribution from the City of St. John’s, will meet the growing demand for the destination by the lucrative meetings and conventions market.
As the popularity of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to increase in the meeting, convention and incentive travel marketplace, the size and scope of the existing convention centre is inadequate. Ranked by an independent survey as sixth of twenty-one national convention destinations across Canada in its value and appeal, St. John’s will now be positioned to increase its market share of this business. Destination St. John’s has long awaited news to share with meeting planners across North America. They can now consider St. John’s as a destination for their meeting or convention
Cathy Duke, CEO, Destination St. John’s (DSJ) says “As cities across the country are building or expanding their convention centres, we need to improve our existing facilities in order to remain competitive and to meet the ever increasing demand by the association and corporate market to bring their meetings and conventions to St. John’s.” The economic impact of meetings and conventions to the City of St. John’s and surrounding areas is approximately $35 million per annum from delegate spending alone. This is a good news story for the citizens of St. John’s and tourism operators in the province as almost half of all convention delegates extend their trip and vacation in the province.
Doug Loucks, Chair of the Board, says “From an industry perspective, major hoteliers and accommodators in the City are proud to be contributors to this project through a continuation of the of the 3% accommodation tax introduced in 1999 and paid by guests of all roofed accommodations in the City. This tourism marketing levy finances the City’s portion of this investment, therefore, no additional cost for this construction is being passed on to the citizens of St. John’s.”
Destination St. John’s is a not-for-profit organization operating under the direction of a Board of Directors on behalf of its partners. It is first and foremost a sales organization; selling member’s products, services and experiences to the world. It currently targets major meetings, conventions and incentive travel (MC&IT); sport and cultural events, leisure travel and group tours.
For more information contact:
Rhonda Hutton,
Director of Marketing
Destination St. John’s
709-739-8876
rhutton@destinationstjohns.com
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