With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/347582
16 BCBusiness AUGUST 2014 numbers fl uctuate over the years—from a high of 65,607 in 2004 to a low of 15,766 in 2011 (a drop attributed largely to a high Canadian dollar and stricter pass- port controls) and back to 60,322 last year. "Prior to 2008, when conference business started to decline due to the recession, this segment peaked at about 30 per cent of room nights in summer and 15 per cent of room nights in winter," says Karen Goodwin, vice-presi- dent of market development at Tourism Whistler, which markets the resort town locally and abroad, and sells packages directly to corpo- rate clients. Whistler has scored a series of coups for conferences over the last fi ve years: in addition to Grow there was TEDxActive in February of this year, the Federation of Cana- dian Municipalities annual conference in 2009 and an upcoming 2015 anesthesiology summit. Added to that is the uptick in business associated with employee incentive packages: large bookings by corporate clients such as UBS Financial and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, which represent thousands of room nights a year. These kinds of events give Whistler valuable media exposure—but more importantly, they represent a vital source of revenue for resort hotels, says Stephen Webb, manager at the Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa: "We are defi nitely seeing recovery." ConferencesBC, a now- defunct industry group, estimated the total economic impact of confer- ences and conventions in B.C. at $560 million in 2006, the last time a major study was conducted. Delegates spend on average between $276 and $533 per day, and around one third of delegates travel to other parts of the province as part of their stay. Last summer was Whistler's busiest on record in terms of room nights, and group business is a key component of that success, says Goodwin. Improvements to infra- structure, particularly the expanded Sea-to-Sky highway, have helped to increase Whistler's viability as a destination for large groups, she adds. Just as important for large events with a heavy digital and media presence—like TEDxActive or Grow 2014—is the 286-kilometre fi bre-optic cable that runs up the Sea-to-Sky corridor, which improved Whistler's ability to host groups that require high connectivity and broadcast capabilities. For many conference organizers, Whistler's compact size (no hotel is more than a 20-minute walk from the conference centre) and easily accessible resort amenities give it an advantage over Vancouver. "You won't lose your delegates," jokes Goodwin. • JOERn ROHDE It's not just conferences pick- ing Whistler as the backdrop for doing business. Now in its second year, the Whistler Beer Festival will be held from September 11 to 14 in the resort town. The festival has doubled in size to an expected 4,000 attendees, and will feature selections from more than 50 brewer- ies, 25 of them from B.C. The big attraction is a "Best in Fest" competition, whereby three breweries are awarded draft-beer contracts for distribution in Whistler bars and pubs; rather than bestow titles or hand out prize money, the festival organiz- ers wanted an award that offered lasting bene ts to both the breweries and par- ticipating local businesses. Organizers Liam Peyton and Harrison Stoker of Gibbon's Life plan to launch beer festi- vals across Canada, starting with a Vancouver event in 2015. —Kristen Hilderman ON TAP NEXT MONTH? BEER! Total "delegate days" at the Whistler Conference Centre (delegates multiplied by days spent at the WCC) 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 26,966 17,660 15,766 59,062 60,322