http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward- ... e-584.html


"Once it is fully operational, the new Centre will add a further $6.5 million in annual tourism business to the provincial economy.

I am wondering how they came to figure? It must in clude their hotels,food,travel and any thing that was bought.If not ,this would mean the centre would be collecting over 500,000 a month.

I suspect that they are using figures based upon the experience of dozens of other cities who have built convention centres and have measurable data gathered over the years that these other convention centres have been open.

Here are some figures from the Ottawa Convention Centre. Factor the numbers downward proportionately for Charlottetown.

Generating $82.4 million in annual revenues and 1,992 Full-Time Employees (FTEs)
Generating $14.2 million in sales and 118 FTEs in the local retail industry.
Generating $11.3 million in revenues and 141 FTEs in local restaurants and bars.
Generating an additional $500,000 annually in local Airport Improvement Fees
Generating $1.929 million annually in revenues for local taxi companies;
Generating $161,000 annually in tips for local taxi drivers;
Generating 43 FTEs annually in the local taxi industry;
Generating $1.78 million annually in revenues for local car rental companies;
Generating $325,000 annually in revenues for local shuttle companies;
Generating $1.303 million annually in gasoline sales.

Thanks for the info Kreskin.What year was this for?

$500k/month is not very much for a convention center.
I've worked in plenty of hotels doing over $12-15 million a year in food and beverage service.

It didn't say.

It would probably take into account the amount the average conference visitor spends locally as well.

The Conference Board of Canada has alot of these statistics on their website as well iirc

So the Delta will be handed the keys to this facility, be paid a fee to operate it, and reap the rewards of substantially higher hotel bookings. Merry Christmas Mr. Delta!!
I do agree that this facility will be great for tourism/convention business, but the Delta folks must be very excited right now. Also, to make it fairer for the people outside Charlottetown, the city should be contributing to the capital costs too.

Basing it on figures obtained from other locales is ridiculous, unless you are comparing those of comparable size and scale. To say to figure down or up proportionally is useless.

was thinking this as well.... dominion building would have been an excellent location for this. centreal to the delta, banks proposed new hotel, and homburgs new hotel.

I think the price of the land was the difference and why it is being built where it is.But i do agree that it is a little unfare to other hotels.

Well in a pure business sense the Delta is the best choice to manage a convention center of this size. They already are the largest convention center on the Island and have all the resources in place.

People attending conventions always have a wide range of hotels/motels to stay at - giving the management to the Delta is not going to effect room occupancy around the city much.

The Dominion Building is far to small as is the area for a full convention center. It would make an excellent location for a museum tho.

Over all the new center is an excellent idea. C-town already attracts a lot of conventions of smaller sizes - being able to chase after larger events will simply bring more people into the city and more bucks.

My only complaint is the location. C-town seems to be in an awful hurry to clutter up the waterfront.

Phil

Looking at the pictures of the convention centre, it looks like it will actually clear some space from the waterfront. It looks like you'll be able to actually see the water from Queen street once it is completed and I believe I read that there is going to be a boardwalk around the centre.

I like the idea. But it seems pretty expensive for it. If the return numbers are right, it should make the money back. Unless we go into another recession!

http://ottawaconventioncentre.com/_file ... rt2007.pdf

During the 2006 fiscal year, $28,000,000 was committed by the Province of Ontario and received on
April 3, 2006. It is the intention of the Ottawa Congress Centre to use these funds for a capital
expansion or retrofit of the existing facility. As such, the Board of Directors has internally restricted
these funds for this purpose and any interest earned thereon.

Anyone have any figures for our existing Convention Center? If the Delta is going to manage it then numbers from it's current operation, as well as numbers pertaining to traffic from past operators should be a consideration. As I remember it they fell well short of anticipations. That previous convention center was a former premier's baby. Is this history repeating itself?
This gives me a strong feeling of deja vous.

Ghiz was against this in last election. Now he likes it. I wonder what the trade off with gail Shea is?

If there is a trade off then a new power cable would be the best trade.It would be nice to see the feds kick in at least 75% since the Island is in debt to the tune of about 1.7 billion.

quite simple, hes announced it and seem to be going thru with it, not the tories...