Share

  Print

  Share
    Digg
    Facebook
    Del.icio.us
    Mixx
    Permalink

Tourism Industry & BACVA News

For Immediate Release: August 7, 2007

Media Contacts Only:
Sara Hisamoto
Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association
410-659-7071
shisamoto@baltimore.org

Mayor Sheila Dixon Teams Up with BACVA and Downtown Hotels for Washington, D.C., Sales Mission

Outreach Kicks Off Six-Day Sales Promotion to Bring New Business to Baltimore

(Baltimore, MD) - The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) is launching an aggressive new sales campaign to raise Baltimore's profile leading up to the convention industry's most prestigious tradeshow—the American Society of Association Executives.

The promotion includes a Baltimore Bus that will travel to and meet with customers in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago, the host city for this year's ASAE event August 11-14. The bus is wrapped with BACVA's logo and tagline and promotes how easy it is to walk everywhere in Baltimore.

The Baltimore Bus will take Mayor Sheila Dixon and downtown hotel general managers to D.C. on August 6 to kick off the "Baltimore on the Road" sales mission. The day includes a special lunch prepared by Baltimore restaurateur Cindy Wolf at the Ritz Carlton for more than 45 meeting and convention customers. After lunch the Mayor will personally make sales calls with customers who are considering Baltimore for future meetings and, at the same time, sales teams from BACVA and the hotels will be calling on more than 150 additional customers in the D.C. and Virginia area.

"It's important to raise the level of exposure for Baltimore in this highly competitive marketplace," says Tom Noonan, BACVA president and CEO. "Baltimore has the hotel package and meeting space to compete for 85 percent of the business available and with this proactive push, Baltimore will be top of mind for meeting planners and association executives as we head in to this important ASAE event in Chicago."

The Baltimore Bus and BACVA sales team will go to Philadelphia on Tuesday, August 7, to meet with convention clients before heading to Chicago where the bus will be used daily to transport members of Chicagoland Forum, the Chicago chapter of ASAE, to the convention center. It will also be used in the ASAE shuttle system for a Monday event.

For the first time, BACVA has formed a three year strategic partnership with ASAE to leverage its marketing resources and generate greater awareness of Baltimore with the association executives who work closely with ASAE and who decide where to hold their conventions and meetings.

BACVA has also teamed up with the popular Crocs Shoes and Jibbitz that are used to decorate the Crocs. Attendees who stop by the BACVA booth will have the opportunity to take home a pair of Crocs and win a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Baltimore. The CROCS reinforce the message that in Baltimore, everything is within two feet. The Jibbitz are in the shapes of BACVA's logo icons.

The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA), a membership-based organization, is the official destination development and marketing leader for Greater Baltimore, responsible for generating incremental economic benefits to the community through the attraction of convention and leisure visits.