April 14, 2004
For Immediate Release

Strong first quarter at the Victoria Conference Centre (VCC)

VICTORIA - The 2004 conference season began early this year at the VCC with the first 90 days showing delegate attendance that is up 24% over 2003 first quarter numbers.

Victoria continues to be a desirable conference destination and despite shorter booking windows and uncertainty around air carriers, the VCC is projecting increased delegate attendance in 2004.

"Our stability in business is based on the fact that major conventions are often booked several years out and many associations set travel budgets ahead of economic forecasts," said Jocelyn Jenkyns, Director of Marketing and Event Sales for the centre.

In 2003, delegate attendance reached at record high of 107,675 delivering over $42 Million in direct spending to Victoria hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions.

During the last year, the VCC has been working at identifying and securing business from US and International markets.

In 2003, the VCC developed a marketing strategy to capitalize on Victoria's image as a secure, cost effective and highly desirable venue for conferences. The VCC has since identified 27 new US and 45 international conferences interested in coming to Victoria between 2005 and 2014. The average size of these conferences is 700 delegates with 100 exhibits.

Recently, Victoria City Council gave the go-ahead for the VCC to submit a bid for the Crystal Garden space.

"Based on our current event projections, if we had the Crystal Garden space as an additional hall for conferences, we would be able to attract at least twice the amount of business to Victoria," said John Hill, General Manager. "Adding additional space would allow us to host larger groups and simultaneous groups of the same size," said Hill.

The Crystal Gardens Request For Proposal closes on June 1, 2004 and the Provincial Capital Commission hopes to have a new tenant in place by November 1, 2004.

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For more information, contact:
Jocelyn Jenkyns
Director of Marketing and Event Sales
(250) 361.1035
jocelynj@victoriaconference.com