Long Beach emerges as prime event destination.

The ocean front city of Long Beach has worked hard to reinvent itself as a major convention & meetings destination. Within the past eight years the city has undertaken major steps to transform its downtown into an appealing seaside urban village.

A $111 million expansion of the Long Beach Convention Center was completed in 1994, increasing the Center's total exhibit space to over 300,000 square feet. The investment began paying off almost immediately. In the first full year of operation after the expansion, the Center generated $250 million in economic benefits, and hotel occupancy in the city began a steady rise. In the greater Long Beach area, there are approximately 5,000 rooms available for convention attendees, with 2,000 of those within walking distance from the Convention Center.

It is easy to see the attraction Long Beach has for meeting planners. The Convention Center is just the right size for mid-sized associations. The compact size of the city's downtown with shops, attractions and restaurants all within walking distance or a short hop on free downtown Passport shuttles adds up to happy conventioneers.

Mary Beth Rebedeau, President of The Rebedeau Group and the Executive Director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers summed it up by saying, "The city was very accessible by air, the convention center was ideally sized, the hotel package was manageable and all hotels ere within walking distance. The free shuttle eliminated the cost and hassle of busing, the nearby nightlife was very enjoyable, and the atmosphere was congenial and encouraged networking for our group of 3,000 delegates. I would highly recommend Long Beach to my colleagues."

By catering to the mid-sized convention client with three to five thousand attendees, Long Beach provides the group with a sense of exclusivity a larger venue cannot provide. The group finds itself "the only game in town," instead of only one out of four or five conventions running simultaneously in a larger convention center.

Location is another key asset Long Beach likes to point out The 5th largest city in California and the largest beach city north of San Diego, Long Beach is strategically located between the major attractions of Los Angeles and C)range County. Universal Studios and Hollywood is just 45 minutes north and Disneyland only 30 minutes southeast. LA counties Metro light rail system begins in downtown Long Beach and connects to downtown Los Angeles, Union Station and Hollywood. Long Beach is also conveniently located less than 40 minutes from either Los Angeles International Airport or the John Wayne Orange County airport.

One of the most surprising developments in Long Beach's tourism effort is the sudden spurt of activity at the city's centrally located municipal airport. After years of trying to lure airlines to utilized the airport and seeing one carrier after another come and go, the Long Beach Airport is now home to four airlines, offering flights to over 350 destination cities.

Much of this sudden growth was spurred by the decision of recent startup, JetBlue, to use Long Beach as their West Coast headquarters. Starting with 2 non-stop flights between Long Beach and New York, City, JetBlue now offers multiple daily flights to New York, Washington, D.C., Oakland, Las Vegas and a daily flight to Salt Lake City. With the success of JetBlue at Long Beach, other airlines began scrambling to add flights into the city. American Airlines, who had been flying from Long Beach to their Dallas hub, initiated additional flights. America West offers service to Phoenix and in early October, Horizon Air will commence service to Seattle.

With the airport congestion caused by the tragedy of September 11th, Long Beach Airport has become a popular alternative to the larger airports. Parking is cheap and close to the terminal. Baggage pickup is just steps from the boarding ramp. Security checkpoints, while just as thorough, do take not as long.

The city boasts two major tourist attractions, the retired Trans-Atlantic liner, Queen Mary and the Aquarium of the Pacific. In addition, Long Beach is the major gateway to Catalina Island, with Catalina Express offering high-speed catamaran service from both the Queen Mary seaport and the downtown Catalina Landing.

The Queen Mary, in addition to being a major attraction is also one of the city's larger hotels, using 360 of the ship's 1st Class Staterooms for hotel accommodations. The Queen features a number of tours and shows, ranging from the strictly historical to the otherworldly "Ghosts & Legends" show where guests might get a ghostly glimpse of some former passengers.

Completed in 1998, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific is the fifth largest Aquarium in the U.S. and the only one dedicated to the Pacific Ocean. The Aquarium anchors the western end of Rainbow Harbor, a newly created man-made harbor that incorporates a shoreline park, private and commercial boat docks where visitors can stroll along the boardwalk while viewing fishing boats, private yachts, and several tall sailing ships. On the eastside of Rainbow Harbor, Shoreline Village is just a short stroll from the Aquarium, and offers an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants, plus a carousel and arcade for the kids.

The sheltered coastline of Queensway Bay and the city's picturesque skyline provide an ideal backdrop for corporate cocktail parties and dinner cruises. Several companies operate charter vessels from the docks at Rainbow Harbor. Cruise choices range from small sailing yachts up to a 500-passenger luxury motor cruiser, and include unique outings aboard historic tall ships, a murder mystery on a Mississippi stern wheeler, and narrated harbor tours.

With "cultural tourism," a current buzzword in the travel industry, Long Beach is well served in this area as well. The city is home to two art museums; The Long Beach Museum of Art and The Museum of Latin American Art (the only one of it kind west of the Mississippi). The East Village area of the city is emerging as a funky, cutting-edge artistic enclave with dozens of trendy shops, restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, and thanks to the efforts of the city's Redevelopment Department, a large number of artist's "work-live" units.

In the final analysis, Long Beach has turned itself into a first-class location for meetings, conventions and leisure travelers. The city is centrally located right in the middle of Southern California, with easy access to three airports, LAX, John Wayne, and LBG. The full-service Long Beach Convention Center is within walking distance of hotels, attractions, shopping areas and restaurants. The city goes out of its way to be visitor friendly, with two visitor centers, a concierge desk in the lobby of the convention center, and a cadre of "Downtown Guides," street concierges whose sole purpose is to assist and direct visitors. Long Beach has become a sophisticated seaside urban village, a big city with small town charm.

Bob Maguglin is Public Relations Manager for the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more information, visit the Bureau's website at www.visitlongbeach.com