For the first time since he was elected in 2003, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined officials of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) and 31 representatives of the city`s tourism industry on a…
For the first time since he was elected in 2003, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined officials of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau (SFCVB) and 31 representatives of the city`s tourism industry on a convention sales mission to Chicago and Washington, D.C. The delegation, which includes the Hotel Council of San Francisco as well as the Labor Council of San Francisco, will sit down for lunch with more than 240 top convention planners and make sales calls in both cities.
Luncheon presentations are scheduled in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. Brief stops at the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office in Washington, D.C. are also scheduled.
Newsom and a smaller team from the SFCVB group will also call on the American Thoracic Society headquartered in New York City, host a luncheon for eight New York City-based clients and meet with travel and meeting trades media on March 14 and 15.
The Convention & Visitors Bureau is organizing the trip to remind its clients how important their meeting business is to San Francisco and to give both new and existing clients a variety of new reasons to return to the city.
The Bureau’s new President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro will present an update on San Francisco`s hospitality industry. In the past 18 months more than 25 hotels in the city have been sold, and many of those have been re-flagged. According to local hotel industry experts, San Francisco has become the “must be” market for many hotel companies. Several major museums and a new 550-room InterContinental hotel are also slated to open in 2008.
Mayor Newsom is expected to meet one-on-one with many of the SFCVB’s top clients in both markets before and after the luncheons. General remarks including updates on San Francisco International Airport and the city’s emergence as a bio-tech capital at each function will be followed by a question and answer period during which the assembled planners will have an opportunity to address questions directly to the mayor.
The Mayor recognizes that tourism is San Francisco’s top industry and every single booking we make is vital to the economic vitality of San Francisco and our future growth as one of the world’s top destinations. He is coming with us to personally thank our clients for their business and learn firsthand how we can keep that business going forward, said D’Alessandro.
Tourism is the largest revenue-generating industry in San Francisco, generating $7.3 billion each year and supporting 66,315 jobs.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
