Don?t call it a comeback.
With his staff and local businesses rallying behind new Baltimore Area Convention and Visitor?s Association President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Noonan, a booming year for tourism in Charm City appears ready to smash last year?s impressive record of 352,000 room bookings.
Through the third fiscal quarter of 2007, BACVA reported slightly fewer than 300,000 rooms booked in area hotels. With an optimistic approach, it is very conceivable for the end number to reach more than 370,000 bookings by the end of BACVA?s fiscal year on June 30.
With BACVA reporting for fiscal 2006 that visitors who stayed over in Baltimore contributed $2.17 billion to its economy, this boom in hotel rooms could be a large coup.
“We are getting a lot of buzz from the meeting planning community and all signs are very positive,” Noonan said.
Despite a projected shortfall of booked conventions citywide in 2008 through 2010, Noonan?s aggressive approach of cultivating other areas as stopgaps seems to be growing legs. To help bridge the shortage, Noonan already has booked a convention for 2008 since his appointment in January. This Department of Defense meeting, known nationally as “Air of Hope,” should bring about 1,300 rooms on peak night alone.
“Tourism is the historic core driver of the city?s economy and the convention is the key driver within the tourism sector,” said Richard Clinch, director of economic development at the University of Baltimore. “BACVA can truly be successful. They made the case it needed the convention center [Hilton] hotel to reach the next level.”
In addition to his other initiatives, Noonan is perhaps most excited about a proposed Baltimore City-wide alliance that would unite area hotels and organizations. Through this alliance, the group would work together and sacrifice certain room blocks or set aside possible future reservations in order to provide the city with more bargaining chips for BACVA and other groups who are out marketing Baltimore.
“For the most part it?s an agreement where the bureau, the convention center and the hotels are all going to play well together in the sandbox and put our best foot forward,” Noonan said.
Room Reservations by Year (rounded off):
» 2004: 228,000
» 2005: 265,000
» 2006: 352,000
» 2007 (projected): 370,000
Figures provided by BACVA
