Next year's convention bookings already up 40% for the region

“The best barometer of how many people are downtown compared to pre-pandemic [days] would be if you look downtown and see how few restaurants actually stay open for lunch versus five years ago." — Bill Lewis, chair of the Hotel Association of Greater Victoria. There’s still a month to go in 2024 and Greater Victoria’s tourism sector already appears to be well-positioned for the new year with 28 citywide conferences booked for 2025 thus far.

“We're getting close to having a large citywide conference pretty much every week that we could,” Paul Nursey, president & CEO of Destination Greater Victoria (DGV), tells Capital Daily.

“So, there's a couple more spots available, but we're getting close to capacity.”

In comparison, the region hosted 20 citywide conferences last year, and while there is no figure yet available for 2024, DGV said the previous year saw 4.9 million tourist visits to the region, a sign the tourism sector has recovered from the relative quietness brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19.

“This number is a reflection of continued recovery from the pandemic,” DGV spokesperson Astrid Chang said of the 40% year-over-year increase in major or citywide conference reservations.

Citywide conferences are those requiring more than one hotel for out-of-towners who statistically spend four times more than leisure travellers, dropping on average $400 a day, according to DGV statistics.

Nursey says when citywide conventions come to town, you can feel “a noticeable, palpable energy” downtown. “Because you’ve got 400 or more, maybe 600 delegates walking around town with their badges on, going to restaurants, going to shop.”

Bill Lewis, chair of the Hotel Association of Greater Victoria, tells Capital Daily conferences can make a week for downtown restauranteurs.

“Just people going out for extra meals, a little extra shopping, the extra coffees, you know, going out for drinks after the conference, that's all like net incremental business that when I'm talking to my neighbours—like at the Magnolia Hotel, like 10 Acres and other restaurants around and the shops down on Government Street—those businesses really, really sing the praises of the conferences.”

On average, each citywide conference is expected to generate $1.17M in business sales, and the 28 slated so far would bring in a total of $35M+, in addition to $6.5M in taxes, DGV said.

Victoria's ability to attract conventions is restricted

Securing conferences for the CRD has become a challenge, due mainly to the region’s limited hotel and conference space. A 2020 report concluded that 75% of available conventions aren’t feasible for this area because of facility size limitations—something Nursey expressed earlier this month with the release of the DGV’s 10-year master plan.

“So, a larger facility would allow us to do two small ones concurrently or one much bigger one, which would just drive that much more business into the downtown and surrounding areas,” he says.

Nursey says it’s no secret the downtown economy has struggled as businesses contend with cruise ships arriving later in the day and with a large number of public-sector employees working remotely.

Lewis says he can’t put a number on the people not going downtown because they now work from home but he calls it “substantial.”

Lunchtime litmus test for level of locals

“The best barometer of how many people are downtown compared to pre-pandemic [days] would be if you look downtown and see how few restaurants actually stay open for lunch versus five years ago,” he says.

“It's pretty dramatic—like you're hard-pressed to find more than two or three or four sort of higher-end lunch places downtown versus most restaurants [that] used to open for lunch. They just can't now.”

Adds Nursey: “We need to be honest that there are certain elements of our economy and our downtown economy that are struggling."

That makes attracting more high-profile conferences—such as the International Seaweed Symposium which was just booked for next May, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association National Meeting in June, and the 2025 Union of BC Municipalities (UBCMs), which will bring hundreds of municipal workers to town next September—that much more pivotal.

Nursey tells Capital Daily organizers of large conferences and conventions generally avoid booking dates in the summer and during the Christmas season, preferring to secure arrangements from February to June and September to November, to avoid low attendance.

“We all know summer is going to be busy, and that's great,” says the hoteliers’ Lewis.

A (re)tale of two seasons

“It's keeping those places afloat and busy in October and November, you know, February and March, when the travellers aren't quite in the same numbers.”

The numbers for hotel occupancy in the region are fairly predictive, he says.

“Hotels run about 90% [capacity] in the summer and in the wintertime, depending on the month, you're going to find that hotels are [at] between about 50 and 75% occupancy.”

Victoria’s temperate climate gives the area an advantage over other centres vying for a slice of the convention pie, Nursey says, complimenting strong summer tourism seasons.

“This rounds out the off-season,” he says. “It's the base of the off-season.”