Toronto claims to be the most popular choice for US-sponsored association meetings outside of the United States. The volume of meeting and trade show space available in the city is clearly one big reason, alongside the city’s rating as one of the safest major cities in North America.
Toronto’s accessibility is likely to play well with planners; the city’s two airports serve 56 international cities.
Downtown Toronto’s largest convention facility is the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which comprises 55,741sqm of space located within walking distance of 10,000 hotel rooms.
For the 2011 / 2012 fiscal year, an overall diversion rate of 88 per cent was obtained in waste management. Over the past eight years, the centre has reduced its total energy consumption by 20 per cent, while continuing to host a full event calendar. This year it also launched a Local Food Procurement Programme.
The centre also has a brewery on its roof. The Steam Whistle Brewery provides an interesting backdrop for drinks receptions and the restored old locomotives on display in the park outside also add history to any occasion.
Other large purpose-built events complexes in town include the Direct Energy Centre, situated at Exhibition Place, Canada’s largest exhibition and events complex.
In June the centre launched its first electric vehicle charging station.
Over 46,000sqm of meetings space is available near to the airport at each of the International Centre and the Toronto Congress Centre venues.
Pearson Convention Centre is another venue near to the airport. It has six high-ceilinged halls.
The city appears well aware of the value of MICE. Exhibition Place Chair of the Board of Governors, Mark Grimes says his organisation has contributed over CAN$11.8m in operating surplus to the City of Toronto over the past five years.
The latest count of hotel rooms in the city is 40,000, with a rich pipeline coming through at the top end.
The 274m high Trump International Hotel Toronto & Tower, Thompson Toronto,
the Ritz-Carlton Toronto and Le Germain, a boutique hotel, have all added to the room stock recently.
The 214m Shangri-La near to the financial district is set to open soon and the Four Seasons Hotel
and Residences plans to welcome its first guests in the autumn.
Four Seasons celebrates its 50th birthday in the city with a move to the new location at 60 Yorkville Avenue.
Regional Vice-President and GM, Dimitrios Zarikos, says the Four Seasons has welcomed visitors to the city for half a century, “and we are taking that tradition with us into our new home”.
The newly-renovated Sony Centre for the Performing Arts and the Roy Thomson and Massey Halls are other major venue options for large events.
Waterfront venues include the Harbourfront Centre, Palais Royale, the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, the Argonaut Rowing Club and the Toronto Island Yacht Club.
Toronto has extensive parks and the 22km Martin Goodman Trail provides an area for running and cycling along the waterfront.
Exercise for the mind is provided by 100 different cultures and languages. There are 125 museums and two symphony orchestras.
In all, the authorities claim, 90 major sites suitable for events, including theatrical venues such
as the Ed Mirvish Theatre, the Princess of Wales, the Panasonic, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Delegates can usually catch some top-class sporting action and take smaller events to some prestigious stadiums, including the Air Canada Centre (hockey home of the Maple Leafs) and the Rogers Centre, home of baseball’s Blue Jays.
There is a healthy stream of demand for meetings from the city’s financial sector, not least because Toronto serves as the regional HQ for the country’s Big Five banks. Corporations also calling the city home include Thomson Corporation, Bayer and Procter & Gamble.
Toronto’s universities and colleges also provide venue options, while the new boutique venue chic being injected into the city may mean the reworking of the old joke that compares Toronto to New York ‘but run by the Swiss’.
Toronto International Film Festival HQ, Bell Lightbox, is another venue that can add kudos to any event.
The city’s iconic CN Tower, as well as offering superb views out over Lake Ontario, can be used by brave teambuilders bold enough to try the EdgeWalk, reportedly the highest external walk on a building.
Following the successful hosting of the G20 Summit, an event that involved over 10,000 hotel rooms for Toronto’s visitors, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto, David Whitaker and his team have been taking the bureau’s new mantra: ‘Whatever you’re into, you can get into it in Toronto’ out to the MICE market. Seventy per cent of the city’s meetings business comes from the association market, much flowing via the Toronto CVB, voted No.1 in North America in 2010.
Tourism Toronto’s Director of Corporate Sales, Julie Holmen notes the rapid growth of Porter Air, which serves 18 destinations in North America, has created a new market for high-end incentive groups looking to experience Toronto.
“Access from the island airport as well as short flight times to other luxury destinations (New York and Chicago, both one hour) has generated a wealth of two centre enquiries,” she says, adding: “High end incentives are considering a Toronto-based event with day trips to other cities.”
Christina Ramsey, Director of Sales and Marketing, Park Hyatt says Porter is having a significant impact on business “with groups able to fly in from multiple locations right into the heart of the city.”
If you’re into the direct flight approach, you certainly can get ‘into’ Toronto.
This was first published in the Issue 68/2012 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
