CANADA - The operator of the South Okanagan Events Centre and the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre in British Columbia, Canada, is having to defend itself against council attacks on its funding.
City councillor John Vassilaki suggested to Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce, at a 15 February meeting, that the city retract some of the funding given to venue operator Global Spectrum in order to attract events.
Vassilaki says: “The venue was built to uplift our events business and none of that has been done. I believe that the people are not promoting it properly, to the extent that they should be.”
Global Spectrum general manager, Curtis Webb, defends his team: “When we came here in 2007 to handle the venue the deficit was over $400,000 a year. In 2008, our first full year of operation, we had the deficit down to just over $200,000. The taxpayers of Penticton are subsidising the venue less since we took over.”
Webb predicts a 19 per cent increase in revenue for the company from 2009.
“In the type of economy we are in right now, there are not many venues out there that are doing that,” he adds.
