A sluggish U.S. economic recovery is expected to hit the conventions business in Metro Vancouver.
BC Pavilion Corp is expecting a 20% drop in the economic impact of out-of-province visitors to the Vancouver Convention Centre this year to $648 million from $817 million last year.
According to the Crown corporation's most recent service plan report, a drop in the number of international bookings a couple years ago is the main source of the decline expected over the next few years.
Despite the declines, conventions will continue to be a significant contributor to the local economy. According to Tourism Vancouver, the total industry output of conventions was $961.8 million in 2010, up from $850.9 million in 2009. Aside from contributing $151.5 million in taxes, it also employed more than 12,200 jobs.
The latest Tourism Vancouver data also showed that international convention attendees spent just over three days in the region, spending about $289 per day.
Overall they spent more than $538 million, up from $476.2 million in 2009.
The increase is reflected in the increase in revenue for hotels and other types of tourist accommodations in B.C. in 2010. Total accommodation revenues rose 12% in 2010 to $1.95 billion from $1.74 billion.
Revenues, however, will likely remain under pressure as the number of international visitors coming to B.C. fell last year by 4.3%, according to BC Stats. The most significant declines have come in the number of U.S. visitors to the province, which has continued to decline for more than a decade.
The uncertain global outlook has continued to hit international travel, with the volume of travellers from Europe and Asia also falling.
Overall, 10.1% fewer European travellers and 0.4% fewer Asian visitors came to B.C. last year.
The 14.1% increase in the number of visitors from China could not offset the declines in Japanese (-17.5%) and Korean (-11.6%) visitors.
