More Convention Business On The Way For 2011

Vancouver, BC (March 6, 2008) – Tourism Vancouver and the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre have recently secured another major convention for 2011. The Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) will bring their annual convention to Vancouver, generating significant economic results for the city and province, as well as business for the expanded VCEC.

The RIMS convention, taking place in late April, early May 2011, will bring some 10,500 delegates to Vancouver and will generate over $11 million in direct visitor spending in the city. The RIMS annual conference and exhibition is widely recognized as the definitive event for the risk management profession, and boasts the largest gathering of risk professionals in the world.

“With three years still to go, we’re already looking forward to a record year for convention business in 2011,” said Tourism Vancouver chair Smith Munro. “The RIMS conference is among the largest that we’ve ever brought to Vancouver, and we would not have been able to do so without the expanded VCEC facilities.”

“Many of these groups have wanted to bring their meetings to Vancouver for quite some time, but we’ve never been able to accommodate them because of their size,” said David Podmore, chair of the VCEC. “With the completion of the expansion, the VCEC will now be able to accommodate a greater number of larger and more complex events than could have been booked in the existing facility.”

Stan Hagen, British Columbia’s Minister of Tourism, Sport & the Arts added, “The interest and more importantly, the secured bookings from these larger conferences affirm the business case for the expanded centre. It’s the reason this project is so important to both Vancouver and all of British Columbia.”

Tourism Vancouver, along with partners such as the VCEC and the hotel community, spearheads the Be A Host program which encourages local British Columbians to work with the tourism industry to bring their colleagues to Vancouver for a national or international conference. For more information on the Be A Host program, please visit www.tourismvancouver.com/meetings/host/.

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