New Pike Place Visitor Center To Open
 On May 12, the Pike Place Market Historical Commission approved Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau's operation of a visitor information kiosk located at the entrance to the market at First Avenue and Pike Street. SCVB is working with the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority to formalize a lease, paint and re-sign the kiosk and create a first-class visitor information facility that serves the needs of Seattle visitors and locals, as well as the Pike Place Market and SCVB member businesses. Plans call for the for the new visitor center to open in early June in time for summer tourism season.
 "The Pike Place Market is beloved by both locals and visitors. Each day, both groups share and celebrate the market. I can't think of a better place to expand the role of our professional concierge corps. Our SCVB "tourism ambassadors" will welcome visitors and work to connect locals, too, with tourism businesses throughout the region."
Ann Peavey
Senior Manager
Seattle Visitor Center & Concierge Services
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Seattle Rock 'N' Roll Marathon Sells Out in Record Time
 This first annual event on June 27 will feature 70 live bands and a headliner concert and health expo, and will draw a field 25,000 runners and walkers, more than 60 percent of whom are from out of town, representing including all 50 states and 17 countries.
Race Breakdown |
Gender |
Income |
Top 10 States: |
|
Full Marathon: 30%
Half Marathon: 70% |
Female: 68%
Male: 32% |
50% over $70,000 |
1. Washington
2. California
3. Oregon
4. Canada
5. Arizona |
6.Texas
7. Idaho
8. Colorado
9. Florida
10. Nevada |
|
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Seafair Celebrates 60th Anniversary This Summer
Seattle's largest annual festival celebrates six decades this summer and is sure to attract local and non-local patrons. Key festival dates include:
July 11: Seafair Pirates Landing & 60th Celebration Opening Ceremonies
July 11: Allstate Milk Carton Derby at Seafair
July 19: Benaroya Research Institute Triathlon at Seafair
July 25: Alaska Airlines Torchlight Parade, Seafair Torchlight Run & Miss Seafair Coronation
July 29-Aug. 2: Seafair Fleet Week presented by Boeing
July 31-Aug. 2: Chevrolet Cup & KeyBank Air Show at Seafair presented by Boeing
 "Tourism matters to me on two counts. First, I'm a native Seattleite and fiercely proud of our area, and I'm excited to show it off to visitors that I bring in through business or pleasure. And second, tourism is an economic driver. My girlfriend is a waitress at Flying Fish and her income is directly tied to tourism -- a convention of neurologists came in recently and she said it made her year."
Chip Hanauer,
Unlimited Hydroplane Driver
Entrepreneur
Proud Seattleite
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Americans for the Arts Meet in Seattle for the First Time
June 18-20, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancement of the arts in America will hold its annual convention in Seattle for the first time. This is the largest annual national gathering of arts leaders and their partners in creative business, education and government. SCVB is a regional partner in planning and supporting the event. Click here to learn more.
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Seattle Promotes Heritage Travel
This summer, SCVB will become a featured destination in a new destination partnership with Heritage Travel, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The new online community will present a broad range of heritage and cultural destinations, sites and events and offer a powerful travel planning resource for heritage and cultural travelers. Seattle will benefit from a powerful national marketing campaign and SCVB members will receive significant discounts on participation fees if they choose to enroll individually in the program.
Email Tracey Wickersham, SCVB Director of Cultural Tourism or call Tracey at (206) 461-5812 for more information.
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World Premiere: Catch Me If You Can
The world premiere of Catch Me If You Can at The 5th Avenue Theatre, July 23 - August 14, will re-unite the powerhouse creative team behind Hairspray, which also premiered at the theatre and went on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and enjoyed a six-and-a-half year run on Broadway. Visit www.5thavenue.org for more information.
 "I love to travel across America and around the world. And I make sure that everywhere I go I take the opportunity to experience the arts and culture of whatever city or region I am visiting. I especially love cities that love theatre such as New York, Chicago and London. And Seattle is right up there with the best of them. This city is loaded with great culture of every kind but it is our amazing theatre scene that makes us truly extraordinary. With five major producing theatre companies: the Seattle Rep, Intiman, ACT, Seattle Children's Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre, as well as scores of dynamic small and mid-sized companies, Seattle is a theatre lover's dream destination."
David Armstrong,
Producing Artistic Director
5th Avenue Theatre
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The Ring Returns
A limited amount of tickets still remain on sale for Richard Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen in August but the production is expected to sell out. When last presented in August of 2005, the Seattle production drew patrons from 49 states and 19 countries, averaging six-night hotel stays. The Seattle Opera has presented Wagner's Ring for more than 30 years in a one-week cycle, which is the tradition of the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany. For more information, visit www.seattleopera.org.
Opera |
Cycle I |
Cycle II |
Cycle III |
Das Rheingold |
August 9 |
August 17 |
August 25 |
Die Walküre |
August 10 |
August 18 |
August 26 |
Siegfried |
August 12 |
August 20 |
August 28 |
Götterdämmerung |
August 14 |
August 22 |
August 30 |
photo: Rozarii Lynch |
"Tourism is part of the lifeblood of Seattle Opera. It carries the message of the quality of opera we present to the rest of the world and helps us locally. Since people come from far away to experience Seattle Opera, we must be offering something good."
Speight Jenkins
General Director
Seattle Opera
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Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Celebrates Centennial This Summer
Throughout the summer, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Centennial continues with a series of commemorative events and exhibitions. The centennial celebration is a project of the City of Seattle's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture, King County's Cultural Services Agency, in collaboration with dozens of organizations and individuals around the region. Visit www.ayp100.org for more information.
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New LGBT Tourism Marketing Partnership
On May 15, SCVB and the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) announced a new tourism marketing partnership targeted to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) travel market. LGBT travelers comprise approximately 10 percent of the consumer travel market share in the U.S. and, on average, have higher disposable incomes than members of other niche travel markets. They’re also less daunted by the vagaries of the economy and other negative factors on travel. SCVB and GSBA have convened a private sector advisory task force made of up of area hotels, attractions, cultural arts, airlines, cruise lines, retail centers and other businesses to pool expertise and resources that will help leverage more LGBT business. The group will roll up its collective sleeves this summer on destination brand development, enhancing Seattle web presence, co-op advertising, positive media coverage, travel packaging, leveraging LGBT conventions and direct outreach to LGBT travel consumers. A top priority will be to increase incremental consumer hotel bookings via the Seattle Super Saver hotel booking program.
 "Seattle is a beautiful, vibrant city that has been a national leader in promoting LGBT civil rights and equality for all. By creating a partnership between GSBA, the largest LGBT Chamber in the United States, and SCVB, we are actively extending an invitation to the LGBT community to visit Seattle to enjoy its beauty and urban sophistication, while having the confidence they will be warmly welcomed. In turn, we are excited that our partnership will lead to an increase in LGBT tourism dollars for the city of Seattle which will help strengthen our local economy."
Louise Chernin,
Executive Director
GSBA
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Record-Breaking Convention Season Sails through Mid-Summer
March through July, hotel room nights generated by Washington State Convention & Trade Center convention business are up 25 percent over last year. In town now: the International Trademark Association with 8,000 attendees and projected economic impact to the region of $17 million.
Unlike several other U.S. cities, Seattle has not experienced significant convention cancellations during the economic downturn because its bread-and-butter convention market is composed of associations such as Trademark and the American Academy of Neurology, which concluded its annual meeting in Seattle earlier this month. Associations, which depend on annual meeting revenue, tend to hold their contracted dates while consumer- and exhibit-based meetings are more vulnerable to attendance drops and cancellations.
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Anatomy of a Convention:
American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting
April 23-May 2, 2009 |
Booking Details: |
Booked in: 2000
Re-booking potential: Dependent upon suffiecient meeting & hotel space |
Attendees: |
12,000
70 countries represented |
Hotels: |
Committed Hotels: 24
Hotel Room Nights Contracted: 30,000
Hotel Rooms on Peak Night (Monday, 4-27): 5,000 |
Economic Impact: |
Total Projected Economic Impact: $25 million
Hotel spending: $6.5 million
Food and Beverage Spending: $4.1 million
Retail Spending projected: $1.5 million
Transportation: $1.3 million
Entertainment & Recreation: $260,000
Venue rental, electrical, staging, etc.: $12 million |
Washington State
Convention & Trade Center |
Compostable/recyclable bottles of water used: 17,300
Box lunches: 4,000
Table cloths: 4,000 |
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SCVB Convention Sales Summer Trip Calendar
May 31-June 1
Washington Society of Association Executives (WSAE)
Annual Conference, Walla Walla
|
July 11-14
Meeting Planners International (MPI)
World Education Conference,
Salt Lake City |
*July 25-26
SCVB Client Events
Chicago |
August 15-18
American Society
of Association Executives (ASAE)
Annual Meeting,
Toronto |
*Partner space is still available for these SCVB Convention Sales trips.
Contact Brianna Mark at bmark@visitseattle.org for more information. |
