Friendly Competitors: Shaking Hands at Niagara Falls
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 9/5/2005
At the midway point on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, tourists marvel at the dividing line between the United States and Canada. However, this physical line may be the only sign of a partition between the two cities — Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario — when it comes to tradeshows and meetings.
While the three bureaus for the region — Niagara Falls Tourism (the convention and visitors bureau for the Ontario, Canada, side of the falls); Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. (the New York side); and the Buffalo (New York) Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau — each attract tradeshows and meetings to their own respective venues, representatives from each bureau say they promote friendly competition amongst themselves, and refer business to each other to keep the region on the minds of show managers.
The teamwork is especially important these days, as one bureau (Niagara Falls, Ontario) is in the midst of a search for a new president and planning a new convention center. Another, the Niagara Falls, N.Y., bureau, is busy adjusting to two major changes made in 2003: Its former Niagara Falls Convention Center was transformed into the Seneca Niagara Casino, and its former CVB and vacation tourism office were melded into the current NTCC.
Mike Even, director of convention sales and services for the Buffalo bureau, said the bureaus' contributions to one another have been helpful. "We work very well together. There have been times when we or they have backed out of a convention bid because we didn't want to split the votes and ultimately lose the convention to another competing city (in a different region)," he said.
The Buffalo Convention Center offers 115,000 square feet of exhibit space — the most in the region — and a convention center hotel. When Buffalo is short on hotel rooms for a tradeshow at the venue, the bureau refers show attendees to the 20,000 rooms (some with falls views, of course) in Niagara Falls hotels 20 miles away.
"We try to help Buffalo in whatever way we can," said Joyce Morocco, director of sales for meetings, conventions and incentive travel for the Canadian office of Niagara Falls Tourism.
And when the New York side's 1-year-old Conference Center Niagara Falls — with its 54,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space — could no longer offer the space needed for Beauty Systems (which had fit in the old convention center), Buffalo gained a new client.
"We could not conform to their specs," said John Percy, vice president of sales and marketing for Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. "We offer Buffalo larger things that we can't fit into our building."
Percy prefers to refer his former, larger business from the convention center to neighbors instead of having it poached by facilities in other parts of the country.
"We lost a lot to Buffalo," he said. "Everyone was out looking for that business, and rightly so. You spill the blood; the sharks are out."
The friendly bureaus also pair up in other ways, including Niagara Falls-marked aisles at meeting planner shows like Destinations Showcase at the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center in March, and association shows.
Getting back into the CVB-exhibiting shows is a way to prove to meeting planners that "we truly have been re-establishing ourselves in the marketplace," Percy said, following the Niagara Falls Convention Center's demise.
Morocco agreed. "We're trying to get the word out there about Niagara Falls."
The Canadian bureau is currently targeting the Asian market, one of the region's most prominent tourism groups, to increase business and vacation travel.
But while Buffalo has all of its ducks in a row with three tradeshow facilities (offering a combined 284,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space), the Niagara Falls bureaus say they're catching up.
The Canadian side only offers hotel exhibit and meeting space; Morocco's office is planning a convention center.
"We are definitely looking," Morocco said. "People are making presentations to us about convention center (options)."
Percy is also looking to the future, especially the December opening of the 600-room Seneca Niagara Spa, Hotel & Casino, which he said will be Western New York's largest hotel.
The new hotel will offer exhibit space, Percy said, within its "10-year blueprint."
This adds to Percy's vision of the future of the tradeshow industry in Niagara Falls, which "goes along the lines of an Orlando," he said. "People can bring their families to Niagara Falls. That's why Orlando has been so successful."
Morocco said, no matter what side of the falls, "The next step for Niagara (Falls) is a convention center."
| Show | Management | Site | Size (net sq. ft.) |
| Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show | Pennsylvania Recreation Vehicle & Camping Assn. | Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex | 859,610** |
| New York Intl. Gift Fair (Jan.) | George Little Management | Jacob K. Javits CC; Show Piers on the Hudson at the New York City Passenger Ship Terminal | 670,520 |
| New York Intl. Gift Fair (Aug.) | George Little Management | Jacob K. Javits CC | 612,162 |
| American Intl. TOY FAIR | Toy Industry Assn. | Jacob K. Javits CC | 330,000 |
| Summer Intl. Fancy Food & Confection Show | Natl. Assn. for the Specialty Food Trade | Jacob K. Javits CC | 296,000 |
| Natl. Stationery Show | George Little Management | Empire Expo Center & New York State Fair-grounds (Syracuse, N.Y.) | 269,511 |
| FIRE 2004 | BTI — the Travel Consultants* | Jacob K. Javits CC | 249,000 |
| AIIM ON DEMAND Conference & Exposition | Advanstar Communications | Jacob K. Javits CC | 248,600 |
| Intl. Vision Expo East | Reed Exhibitions | Jacob K. Javits CC | 242,875 |
| Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East; Atlantic Design & Manufacturing; PLASTEC East; EastPack and Automation Technology Expo | Canon Communications | 241,990 | |
| *Show was managed by New York State Assn. of Fire Chiefs in 2005. **Includes 276,636 net sq. ft. of paid exhibit space outdoors CC=convention center Source: 2005 TSW 200 | |||
| Facility | Location | Exhibit space (sq. ft.) |
| Jacob K. Javits CC | New York | 814,400 |
| Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex | Harrisburg, Pa. | 751,100 |
| Boston Convention & Exhibition Center | Boston | 516,000 |
| Atlantic City CC | Atlantic City, N.J. | 500,000 |
| Pennsylvania CC | Philadelphia | 440,000 |
| Eastern States Exposition | West Springfield, Mass. | 355,000 |
| David L. Lawrence CC | Pittsburgh | 313,000 |
| Bayside Expo Center | Boston | 261,000 |
| Fort Washington Expo Center | Fort Washington, Pa. | 260,000 |
| Seaport Hotel and Seaport World Trade Center | Boston | 250,000 |
| Source: 2005 TSW Major Exhibit Hall Directory | ||
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