USA – Five thousand US transplantologists are in Philadelphia this week experiencing the new Convention Center extension.
Five major conventions have used the new expanded center since it opened 4 March. The city also has two new hotels, the Palomar and Le Méridien, boosting the city’s total rooms to 12,500.
Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger welcomed the Convention Center’s contribution to creating jobs when he visited the venue last week. The hospitality industry, he said, was important in building the city’s job base. Philadelphia’s hospitality sector employs more than 50,000 and the tourism chiefs believe it could be the replacement industry for lost manufacturing jobs.
Greenberger was speaking on a panel of tourism chiefs in front of an audience of 200 who had been invited to tour the new meeting spaces opened at the Center as part of the US$786m expansion which doubled the event space.
Ahmeenah Young, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority, said the expansion “transformed us from a large urban center to a hospitality center”.
Jack Ferguson, Head of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the audience: “I’m a believer in ‘Build it and give them a reason to come’.”
So far, Ferguson said, the bureau had secured $2.7bn in future bookings related to the expansion. “It’s a critical component,” he said. “We would not be where we are today without it.”
City organisations are in discussions about developing a collaborative ‘Hospitality University’ to train the next generation of frontline hospitality workers.
New research quoted by the city’s tourism chiefs claims room rates in Philadelphia are down $17 from the first quarter of 2008.
The world’s largest architectural and commercial lighting tradeshow and convention, Lightfair International, is expected to bring 23,000 attendees later this month. They will use more than 10,900 hotel room nights and bring an economic impact of more than $19m.
And, on 12 May, for the fifth year, the PCVB and Philadelphia International Airport will honour outstanding employees with Five Star Service Awards during a presentation ceremony at the airport.
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Philadelphia creating new convention story
