Conventions and visitor hotel bookings are well of projections because the secret is out that Oklahoma City is a great place to visit, do business and attend sporting events, said Mike Carrier, president of the Oklahoma City Convention and Tourism Bureau.
Reviewing the most recent data available, reports combining all market segments shows that in just five months the bureau has reached almost half of our targeted 352,685 room night sales goal for the fiscal year. That’s 168,936 rooms booked.
Downtown and Bricktown now have 2,004 hotel rooms. Citywide, there are 15,000. Add in the nearby areas, and its 22,000 hotel rooms.
It may come as a surprise that tourism is one of the state’s largest industries - $2.1 billion in revenue annually. There are 30,000 employed thanks to this industry.
Several categories are doing the heavy lifting - the equine and sporting events. The business category has numerous smaller events, but a few larger gatherings too.
This year the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is expected to draw 50,000 runners - making it one of 2010’s largest events.
The largest 2010 sporting event will be the Division 1 Men’s NCAA basketball first and second round championship games, drawing 80,000 fans.
The American Quarters Horse Association’s World Championship will bring 130,000. Prepaid Legal Services will draw 10,000 to the city.
But Carrier admits there are challenges too. The Ford Center is suitable only for sports activities. That leaves the Cox center for business gatherings - too small, and with limited breakout space crucial for seminars and educational sessions.
“But other opportunities are coming our way,” Carrier said. “Because of the river, rowing, canoeing, kayaking events are coming here,” he said, noting that this slightly annoys states with ample water features, such as Florida.
“Now, we are an Olympic training center for those events. “So now, other Olympic governing bodies want to look at what we’ve done.”
Other things that make Oklahoma City attractive to meeting planners and visitors is that they leave feeling the haven’t been overcharged at every turn, Carrier said.
“Geographically, in our area, we compete with mostly with Ft. Worth, Tx., Denver, Co., St. Louis, Ks., Kansas City, Mo., Albuquerque, NM, Austin, Txs., Memphis, Tenn. and Little Rock, Ark,” he said, noting our success is limited due to meeting center inflexibility.
“Our facilities are more on the level of smaller markets - Hot Springs, Ark., Monroe, La. and Shreveport, La. - not exactly convention hot spots.
Carrier knows it will be awhile before we are considered along with the bigger markets.
Help is on the way. The MAPS 3’s new convention center - due to be built by 2013 - will give the city a facility with 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, 30-35-foot high ceilings, state of the art voice and data capabilities. Its ballroom will be 10,000 square feet larger than the Cox Center’s.
Meanwhile, the hard work and resourceful approach continues, and Oklahoma City’s support is crucial to bring in those out-of-state dollars.
“You always have to be doing things like we have done recently to improve facilities and look for new opportunities to fit in new types of shows,” Carrier said. “Looking at all the good things going on, we have a very strong future ahead of us.”
