Atlantic City’s convention industry has launched a new theme—“The Turnaround Begins”—in its marketing efforts to attract conventions to the city.
It might sound like an empty slogan considering the problems of the city’s casino industry, but the city can already point to a significant increase in conventions for the first part of 2015 and has several new casino conference and meetings facilities about to go online.
One of those new facilities—Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center—has already announced two major meetings for convention and meetings planners at the soon-to-be-open facility.
That’s left officials for Meet AC, the recently formed sales group for the Atlantic City Convention Center, feeling optimistic.
They point to statistics such as hotel bookings and the number of conventions in the resort, both of which have been climbing at a double-digit pace so far this year.
Jim Wood, president of Meet AC—speaking a recent meeting of the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority—said an estimated 210,000 convention-related hotel room nights will be booked in the city this year, a 22 percent jump from 171,465 in 2014.
The convention center has already seen 80 events this year, compared to 60 at this time last year, he said.
The revenue generated by the people who attend Atlantic City’s conventions is projected at $224 million in 2015, up 18 percent from $189.7 million last year. That represents an almost 70 percent increase from $132.5 million in delegate revenue in 2013, Wood said.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds Meet AC’s $8.3 million annual budget.
The group is trying to target more regional conventions, sporting events and bus groups as part of its marketing strategy, Wood said.
Meanwhile, the city’s casinos have also been building new meetings facilities such as a $9.3 million meeting center at Resorts casino.
Harrah’s Resort Waterfront Conference Center has already booked the Meeting Professionals International conference in June 2016, but announced booking two more such meetings.
The Atlantic City Sports Commission—part of Meet AC—announced a “Play AC” sports tourism campaign, and said it would be hosting TEAMS ’16, a conference and expo for the sports-event industry, at the Harrah’s center.
Presented by SportsTravel magazine, the TEAMS Conference & Expo is the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers. The conference and expo will be held Sept. 26-29 next year at the Waterfront Conference Center.
The meeting attracts about 1,400 people from sports organizations and representatives from sports commissions and convention bureaus.
“This was a natural progression for the AC Sports Commission, to build upon the DO AC and Meet AC brands that are already in use,” Wood said at a press conference.
Harrah’s also announced that Meetings Quest, a series of educational and networking events for meeting planners, would be held at the center in 2017. The city has entered into a multi-year partnership with organizers, said Timothy Schneider, president and CEO of Schneider Publishing, which organizes Meetings Quest.
“The announcement of Atlantic City hosting the Meetings Quest conference couldn’t come at a better time for the convention business in Atlantic City,” Wood said. “It’s just one more example of how Meet AC is continuing its efforts in growing our meetings and convention market.
