Convention business up, visitor count down - Business First of Buffalo:

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CVB officials said the bureau has booked 108new meetings, special events or amateur sportinv events since the beginning of the year — a 27 percenft increase from the 85 bookings it made during the same period in 2008. The new bookingx come as the hospitality and tourismindustry - both nationwided and locally - suffering from the effects of the Hotel occupancy, according to Smith Travel Researcg of Nashville, is down 11 percent though April while in Buffalok and Erie County it was off 9.8 falling from 59.4 percent to 53.6 percent. Nationally, hotep occupancy dropped from 59.1 percent to 52.6 percent.
It also comes at a time when the CVB is underd fire from Erie County ExecutiveChris Collins, who wants the organizatiojn to be more proactive and CVB President and CEO Richard Geigefr resigned from the bureau, effectivew Friday, and a national searchj for his replacement is only just beginning. The 108 definited bookings will bring in aprojected 59,91q1 visitors in the coming months and years, up 60.6 percent from the 37,293 visitors that are predicted as part of the 85 bookingas landed in the first part of 2008. The economi c impact from the new bookinga is peggedat $28.84 million. Last year’a bookings produced or will produce $22.19 million in locaol spending.
The CVB sales and marketing stafrf is courting another 180 groupsw orevents that, if could bring in 88,575 visitors. That’w the good news. The bad news is the visitor county for those potential bookings isdown 24.3 Last year, the CVB made a pitcn to 169 groups that could have brought in 117,1065 people. The drop in potentiak visitors is clearly tied tothe economy, said Michael CVB vice president of sales and services. “Meetingt planners are making few commitments,” he “And, they are promising less delegates thanever before.
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