EW visited various fledgling exhibition centres on its recent tour of the USA, and Fort Lauderdale’s Broward County Convention Centre stood out as an exemplary success story.
A terrorist attack and a hurricane might have dominated its headlines, but Fort Lauderdale and its MICE offering is set to thrive.
Located between the popular port of Fort Lauderdale and the rapidly expanding Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), the convention centre was built to attract a new crowd to the destination, and embrace MICE business during tourism down periods.
The centre was a key part of the transformation of Fort Lauderdale in the late 80s. Back then the destination was synonymous with teenage high jinx, epitomised in the 1983 film Spring Break.
“Fort Lauderdale’s community got together and decided that they wanted to be, and were, about more than just partying. To achieve this they realised they needed to target more than just six weeks of the year during the holidays when people don’t spend much and seek cheap rooms,” says Christine Roberts-Tascione, VP, Convention Sales & Services at Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The community realised if they want it, they have to build it themselves. “A plan was drawn up to help broaden the scope of the area. The county agreed to go-ahead, and a bed tax was levied on tourists at 5 per cent. Around 2 per cent of this goes to the BB&T Center arena which seats 19,000 visitors. The tourism marketing gets a cut, and the Convention Center also takes a cut to create better demand from May to November predominantly. The aim was to keep the community employed throughout the year and create a flourishing and diverse tourism scene,” Roberts-Tascione added.
Since opening in 1991, the 55,742sqm convention centre has hosted more than five million guests and 5,500 events. Aiding the centre’s ascent was Fort Lauderdale’s now established nautical show, run since 1976 by Show Management. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show sits alongside the portfolio that includes Yachts Miami Beach and the Palm Beach Boat Show, three of the World’s largest in-water boat shows.
Broward County Convention Center’s sales manager Andres G Castano says the show makes good use of the venue: “They use three different Marinas and use the Convention Centre for small boats on the exhibition floor, then out front people use the water taxi system.”
The local hotel scene is also boosted by the event. The Riverside Hotel’s spokesperson says: “There’s a number of very powerful organisations here but they are all very united. We have the biggest ships in the world passing out hotel. The town is packed during the event, and our tables are packed in the evening. As a boutique property, fewer people can take over our hotel during the exhibition, and there’s often the jetset crew here, the beautiful people.”
The buoyant atmosphere has prompted growth plans for the Convention Centre. “There’s been an empty lot here which for 25 years has been sought for additional expansion. However, in April 2016 a 27,870sqm expansion was approved for 2020 on the back of one of our best July’s ever, when we were running at 95 per cent capacity,” says Castano.
“Fort Lauderdale has been a success for exhibitions because it manages to appeal to everyone involved. Exhibitors are happy being somewhere accessible, the costs locally are reasonable and it is an attractive place for attendees to visit. As a result we had one of our most successful years in 2015 from occupancy to delegate attendance,” he adds.
An onsite hotel is among the most recently announced plans, set to open in 2021.
Shortly after these initiatives were announced, two incidents tested Fort Lauderdale’s expertise in handling disasters. Hurricane Matthew, which struck in October 2016, caused more than 842 deaths in nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Fortunately Fort Lauderdale avoided the brunt of the storm, but South Florida reported more than 4,500 flight cancellations and the closing of major cruise ports.
In January this year, meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, was the site of a terrorist attack when a gunman killed five travellers.
The destination however, will not let these incidents affect its ascent. The airport was able resume operations and flight schedules the following morning and its pipeline remains ambitious.
The launch of Emirates Airlines’ daily non-stop service to Dubai marked two years of unprecedented growth at the airport with JetBlue Airlines adding links to Cuba and Mexico, and a Norwegian Air Shuttle to Paris and the West Indies.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau president and CEO Stacy Ritter said the strategy by the airport and Broward County aims to put Fort Lauderdale among the top destinations in the USA for international visitors, which will only boost its burgeoning MICE industry.
