Known as the emerald city and the gateway to Alaska, the Northwest US city of Seattle is nestled between the Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 96 miles south of the Canada/US border. Home to Boeing, the dons of grunge, Nirvana, rocker Jimi Hendrix and coffee chain Starbucks. It is also home to the headquarters of Microsoft.
Seattle is ranked 234th in the International Congress and Convention Association’s International Association Meetings Market city rankings with six conferences that qualified for the list in 2008. The chair of the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bradley K.
Walker, told members in his introduction to the 2009 destination marketing plan: “Investment and opportunity are two words that will play a big role in the economic development of our area in 2009”.
Hoping to capture the overflow of participants at nearby Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games, the SCVB says it is building a cross-boarder tourism alliance with a “common goal of generating respective business”.
The Washington State Convention and Trade Center has recently acquired an additional 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibition space. The redesign is expected to open in Q4 of 2010.
‘Clients are taking longer to make decisions, are preoccupied with other association matters, so are delayed in their conference planning.’
“Over US$1.7 billion in convention business has been lost due to the lack of available space or dates at our centre since 2004,” says the centre’s Brian Baum. “Because of this demand, we are currently exploring doubling its size by 2015.”
Seattle is the closest city on the west coast to both Europe and Asia. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) launched its third runway in November 2008 as part of a US$4.1 billion capital improvement programme over 10 years.
Instantly recognisable for its 605ft iconic Space Needle, Seattle is a compact town with the WSCTC located within walking distance of the 12,000 downtown hotel rooms. Seattle’s convention business accounts for 30 per cent of downtown hotel occupancy.
Five per cent of the 9.34 million visitors that came to Seattle in 2008 deemed the trip for conventions, conferences or meetings, according to the 2008 King County Visitor Impact Study by CIC Research. President and CEO of the SCVB Tom Norwalk says: “Visitor volume and expenditures flattened in 2008, no surprise considering the soft travel economy.”
He adds that the bureau expects Seattle’s tourism economy to rebound quicker than most destinations. “One of our market strengths is our convention business. We enjoy a very enviable mix of professional association business, primarily in the medical, technology and scientific markets.”
Professional conference organiser KF Events’ president Krista Fleming tells CMW that her company has had a strong year, while acknowledging some changes to the business climate. “Clients are taking longer to make decisions, are preoccupied with other association matters, so are delayed in their conference planning.”
She notices larger companies are looking to smaller independent planners to partner with to provide a “more customised service and offer lower rates than the larger management firms”.
Norwalk adds that he has seen continued demand for Seattle and that most conventions experience excellent attendance when they book in the city. “In fact, attendance is so strong that our repeat booking percentage is over 60 per cent.”
This year the city has hosted the American Academy of Neurology (12,000 delegates), American Veterinary Medical Association (5,500) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (5,000). Norwalk says that although he has found meetings and conventions in the corporate market have been “severely impacted, we are optimistic that these groups are beginning to book again”. He does add, however, that he expects the rebound to be slow.
Fleming, who’s majority of business comes from educational associations, says that larger “must see” conventions will continue, but the second and third-tier annual meetings will have to fight harder for market share.
In January 2008, the city hosted the annual meeting of the Professional Convention Management Association, with a record attendance of 3,500 delegates. With an annual convention buying power of US$18 billion, the immediate economic value of the PCMA accounted for US$4 million and had a projected economic impact of US$50-100m. It also prompted seven further bookings at the WSCTC, and 50,000 room nights.
For Seattle, its southern neighbours San Francisco and San Diego are its largest convention competitors. The SCVB says it is currently five per cent ahead (year-on-year) with the strong months being January to July. In its 2009 annual report, the SCVB says that Q2 of 2009 was “so strong (record levels) that it overshadows the likely shortfalls later in the year”.
Norwalk says that currently the market offers planners the opportunity to bargain: “Lead times have been impacted, meeting decisions delayed and we find that groups are taking advantage of market conditions to re-negotiate and shop for competitive pricing.”
As Baum sees it: “Fortunately, as a destination, Seattle nearly sells itself.”
