Building tourism with CONVENTIONAL thinking.

Typically when one thinks of tourism, the train of thought often pertains to vacations, sightseeing, relaxation and holidays. And while this is quite often the case, there also is a significant portion of tourism that has virtually nothing to do with such themes. Conventions are more often than not connected with some sort of business or commerce, rather than the aforementioned variables, yet they are a very integral part of the tourism industry.

"The convention market is one of the most lucrative and one of the most competitive markets in the whole tourism industry," admits Todd Brandt, president and CEO of Tourism Saskatoon. "A significant amount of our efforts and our funds go towards attracting that market."

The reason for this, says Brandt, is simply because of dollars and sense. The average conventioneer in Saskatoon spends considerably more than that of the recreational traveler, with average spending around a $320 per day. And with 175,000 to 200,000 convention tourists coming to Saskatoon annually, it makes a lot of sense to actively pursue this market, Brandt says.

"There's a lot of advantages to a convention market in that it is 12 months of the year," espouses Steve McLellan, executive director of Tourism Regina, on the benefits the convention industry presents. "It is typically per person a much higher expenditure type of travel. And in some cases we can dictate at what point in the year it will come by marketing to groups who will come during our slow times."

McLellan estimates that the net worth of business travel to Regina accounts for $50 million annually, making it an extremely vital part of Regina's economy.

"It's absolutely critical," McLellan says of the importance the convention industry means to Saskatchewan convention facility-housing hotels. "If you look at a hotel from a square footage perspective, they have to sell their meeting room areas daily in order to generate the kind of revenues that they require to get a return on the investment they've put into them."

"We are continually increasing our efforts in attracting and servicing conventions because of their importance to our members," McLellan stated.

Saskatchewan's two major centres are both equipped to handle what Brandt describes as the "bread and butter" of the tourism convention industry, which are conventions in the range of 300 to 500 people. Indeed approximately 80 per cent of conventions in Canada fall within that range.

"A lot of the national conferences are done on a rotation where they'll do it, for example, east-central-west and then start over again," says Jan Desrosiers, director of marketing with Tourism Saskatoon. "So our opportunities may come up on a Four- or five-year cycle, maybe longer."

Able to accommodate such a broad segment of the convention industry means the types of conventions Saskatchewan's centres attract can range from anywhere between local to international interests. The types are as far-reaching as one can imagine as well.

"The interesting thing about convention marketing is that you come across the strangest names of organizations ever found," says McLellan, emphasizing his reference is strictly to their uniqueness. "Like the Association of Canadian Left-Handed Tea Cup Manufacturers. It's that kind of stuff that you wouldn't think about."

"While we will welcome any group, we are targeting those conventions where Regina has a specific advantage," he says. "That means conventions that gather together people who are in the law enforcement training, for instance, with the RCMP training academy and the police college here."

McLellan says another area making Regina particularly appealing are conferences dealing with governance. He cites an upcoming convention which is for representatives of legislative assemblies from all across North America as an example.

"We certainly have a higher percentage of conferences that are in the technical/scientific and to some extent health fields now," Brandt says of the types of conferences being attracted to Saskatoon. "That's strictly a reflection of where Saskatoon's business economy sits with our university, with Innovation Place, the amount of scientific-based research going on here, it is drawing in a number of international conferences."

All of Saskatchewan's centres use intracity commuting as a key benefit when extolling the competitive advantages they can provide. Cheryl Lavoie, office administrator for Prince Albert Tourism and Convention Bureau, says that Prince Albert is appealing for this, as well as its proximity to the North.

"Some of the comments I've received is that while one person comes here for their convention, they'll bring the rest of the family and they can experience the North," Lavoie notes. "Plus a lot of people really appreciate the hospitality and Prince Albert is big on hospitality. People feel very comfortable here."

Although Prince Albert has a distinct niche with respect to its geographic location, and each of the Saskatchewan centres has its own unique appeal, oftentimes the other benefits, such as cost and size, are common to all Saskatchewan centres. Therefore, with such similar benefits to espouse to prospective clients, the Saskatchewan centres will work in conjunction with one another to attract conventions to our province.

"We compete with Regina," explains Brandt. "But for the last four years it's really been Saskatoon and Regina have formed a partnership to focus on Saskatchewan as a destination for conferences first and foremost. They can sort out the cities after that."

"We've gotten a lot further by marketing in partnership with each other," he continues. "We've hosted events together, we do trade shows together, we organize sales blitzes as a provincial team and then work down from that. At some point and time then we kind of separate and do our pitches and that's fine. Saskatchewan needs to keep working hard to getting into the field of view of more associations because there's a lot more out there that have never considered us."

As if the market isn't competitive enough, Saskatchewan cities are being further challenged by restricted flight schedules. "The last 18 months to two years we've already suffered to some extent by the air services to Saskatoon and Saskatchewan gets from our major air lines," says Brandt, noting that these restrictions have resulted in a changing climate in the air line industry.

"WestJet is now posting much higher numbers of business travelers than they ever have historically," Brandt says. "That's good for Saskatoon and good for Saskatchewan because if there's more comfort for them in traveling WestJet, it's going to ease some of the strain that we have convincing meeting planners that we are an accessible destination."

"What I believe has happened is that the perception has hurt us more than the reality," concurs McLellan. "There is still good air service in Saskatchewan; good access, fares are decent."

Despite the technological advancements which have resulted in e-commerce, videoconferencing and the like, the meeting and convention industry is as strong as ever before. McLellan says that regardless of such advancements, people still thrive on that personal interaction.

"There were all kinds of fears about the electronic age and the fact that people wouldn't be meeting;' he says. "But we're not seeing that come to fruition. People are still meeting; they need to meet face to face."

Perhaps it is because of this need that the convention industry will continue to be one that thrives in Saskatchewan, Indeed it is not one that is being restricted to what would be considered as Saskatchewan's major centres. If all goes according to plan, there's soon to be a new kid on the block.

The residents of Wilkie have competed a feasibility study into a new mineral spa, which, aside from looking for that leisure dollar, is also interested in the convention side of things as well. Funding for the $11.5-million project is presently being secured, with the hopes of digging dirt next spring or summer.

"Through our market study there was an identification and a need for some extra convention facilities;' says Wally Lorenz, who aside from being mayor of Wilkie, serves as the president and chair of Prairie Oasis Mineral Spa. "We're looking at a 200-person convention centre is what we're budgeting for in our business plan."

Lorenz says that a telephone survey indicated 53 per cent of those corporations contacted said that they would utilize some sort of convention facility in Wilkie. From those results, as well as post-discussions following the survey, Lorenz is confident that the spa will attract a significant amount of corporate clientele. He says some are already tentatively booking their convention time around the spa's availability, which only serves to re-enforce the viability and desirability of Saskatchewan as a convention destination.