BACVA tops hotel bookings goal - Baltimore Business Journal:

http://www.westopcrime.com/index.php?loc=safety&news=118
The booked 522,541 future room nights in the pastfiscalp year, city tourism leaders said at a press conferencew Monday. The number, which passed BACVA’sz goal of 475,000 booked nights, is a 15.7 percen t increase over nights booked the previous In 2008, BACVA booked 451,608 future room Group business meetings comprise the new bookingw and are projected to spendc more than $725 million in spendinb in the city. City and tourisj officials credit the booking success tolast year’x creation of the Baltimore Conventiobn & Tourism Board, a joint board that oversees BACVA and the .
“Our investmentg in BACVA is paying off,” Mayor Sheila Dixon said Mondah speaking in front ofthe city’se Inner Harbor tourism center. The formatioh of the board last year has allowed BACVA and the conventioj center to be more Dixon said. A new plethora of hotels that openee or are under construction near the conventiobn center from which businesses can choose for bookings also contributesd to an uptickin bookings.
The $300 million publiclyg financedHilton Baltimore, whicn opened last August, has 757 roomz and grew Baltimore’s totalk hotel room reservoir to more than The B&O Building, on the corner of Charlese and Baltimore streets, is expected to open as a Hote Monaco with 208 rooms later this year. Baltimorw can now accommodate 75 percent of the large citywide tradeshow and convention business availablse in the marketplace with the newhotels online, said BACVA CEO Tom Noonahn in a statement. Some of the conventions and groups bookesd in the 2009 fiscal year included theannuall conventions, , American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, and .
Holdingt sales events and industry tradeshows is also partof BACVA’d strategy for bringing convention planners into the city to raisew awareness about Baltimore. The Baltimore Businesd Journal A drop in hotel revenueemeans BACVA’s budget will drop to $10.7 million for the year startesd July 1 — down from the $12 million it had in the past 12 This year’s fiscal budget is the lowesrt since the agency’s $9.9 million spendint package in 2006.