Event Planners See Opportunities Beyond Downtowns

Whether using technology that promotes a location or the real-life experience of exploring a destination, convention and visitors bureaus have embraced marketing their destinations beyond the usual downtown corridor to meeting planners and attendees. The motivation, of course, stems from securing meeting bookings and foot traffic for local businesses. The efforts also go to the heart of bureaus’ shifting promotion mission. “CVBs are looking to get people to stay longer [by selling diverse neighborhoods],” said Melissa Cherry, chief operating officer of Destinations International. “They’re saying, ‘You already saw downtown, you can extend for a day to see a [new] area, or you can come back another time for it.’” Encouraging travel and exploration in secondary neighborhoods has become especially popular in the age of overtourism, with destination marketers looking to limit the impact of excessive tourism while helping to drive economic growth in neighborhoods that have traditionally been less attractive to visitors. The emphasis by travelers today on having memorable m