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City boosts 2011 convention sales 13 percent

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The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association said Friday morning that it booked nearly 735,000 hotel-room nights in 2011 for conventions and meetings, a 13-percent increase from 2010.

As part of the increase in hotel sales, ICVA booked 48 citywide conventions, up from 44 in 2010. A citywide convention uses Indiana Convention Center space and at least two hotels for overnight accommodations. Room nights booked during the year typically are for conventions scheduled several years in the future.

Business secured in 2011 should generate an estimated economic impact of $650 million, ICVA said.

The city exceeded its sales goal for the year by 10,000 room nights. Midway through 2011, ICVA CEO Leonard Hoops called the goal aggressive and said the group was far short of the pace needed to meet the goal.

ICVA booked 650,000 room nights in 2010.

New conventions that signed commitments in 2011 include the Kiwanis International Annual Convention in 2015, National Safety Council’s Annual Congress & Expo in 2019 and Seventh-day Adventists International Conference in 2020.

ICVA also signed extensions for several major conventions, including Fire Department Instructors Conference, Gen Con, and Do it Best Corp.

Booking efforts were helped by a $275 million addition to the Indiana Convention Center that opened in February and added 350,000 square feet of exhibit space to the center.




 


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  • keep your head up
    Hopefully, the Legislature will pass the
    smoking ban and RTW asap. If those conventioneers smell a whiff of smoke, or
    those pesky hotel workers get their wages up
    to $7.60/hr, GAME OVER.
  • Good Luck on 2012 Goals
    Superbowl should open some new doors with event promoters, corporate sponsors, sports leaders, and national media outlets.

    Hope ICVA has a crack team dedicated to supporting the needs of the 5,000 international media coming to town that will be telling stories of Indianapolis to the world.

    Time will tell if the ICVA sales team is up to the task and are successful in aiming higher and landing new high and low profile events.
  • Keep up the good work
    Assuming the numbers are solid this is great news.

    Keep in mind the goal is to reach 850,000 by 2015.

    If those goals aren’t met, the city will have difficulty paying to operate the expanded facility.

    http://www.ibj.com/openings-launch-new-era-for-indianapolis-tourism/PARAMS/article/31573

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  1. The lack of street-level retail in this part of the Block 400 development is a huge oversight and somewhat perplexing given the high quality of recent city-backed developments downtown. This portion of an otherwise stellar development is going to have an extremely negative impact on the aesthetics, urban environment, walkability, and livability of the NW quad.

    I'm not sure why One America would oppose including retail. And I find it very hard to believe that the thousands of office workers literally footsteps away wouldn't be able to support new lunchtime destinations and other businesses along Illinois and Vermont. We've got to reconnect the disjointed segments of our blossoming downtown, not create yet another lifeless dead zone that no one wants to walk through. Sadly, that is exactly what this massive ugly single-use structure will accomplish.

    Why not follow the precedent set by the proposed garage in Broad Ripple and create an attractive mixed-use structure? Why does the city get it there but not downtown?

  2. Bear mind that DS is just not another lazy, rich kid. He attended Columbia grad school and was in investment banking for 4 or 5 years before joining his dad's company. An annual grant of stock options at market price would be the correct pay-for-performance program then no one could argue with it.

  3. This comes from an executive who gave his wife a Bentley as a wedding present. He is heir to billions of dollars. He should be working for a dollar a year and stock options only. Seems like a conflict of interest, time to bring in a non-relative as CEO. Haven't met him, but have heard his arrogance is legendary.

  4. If the property is improved, property taxes increase - more revenue. If AUL's employment grows, more income taxes - more revenue. If more people move and/or work downtown, it means more demand for goods and services, more employment, more taxes - more revenue, etc., etc. It's not just the city throwing money at big companies. There's much, much more. Yes, the project has private backing, but apparently not enough to make the deal work and therefore they don't have it covered. And while Marsh is a nice anchor, they are no credit tenant like a Kroger or somebody. And if the police department has a major shortfall, they need to reduce the force. This city has way too many policemen.

  5. It's hard to defend billionaires, but David Simon has created a tremendous amount of value for shareholders since joining the company. He is widely regarded as one of the best CEOs in America. The company is growing and making good strategic decisions. And Indy is fortunate to have SPG HQ'd here. Now, does that merit $120 million (about 15 mil over 8 years or so)? Maybe. But this family and David have truly built a business. Should Zuckerberg be worth $20 bil? Who knows. Hopefully David will be supportive of Hoosier charities like his family has.

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