For Immediate Release:
January 7, 2010

Salt Lake City Joins Baltimore and Fort Worth in Multicity Partnership

Baltimore, MD) — Visit Baltimore and the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau announced today the addition of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau to their innovative sales partnership as the third city and West Coast destination.

The multicity sales partnership is based on a national hotel model that encourages groups to sign multiyear contracts at properties located around the country, often with an incentive for doing so. By joining forces and co-selling each city the three sales organizations have the ability to be more competitive by offering possible discounts for booking Baltimore, Fort Worth and Salt Lake City in a multiyear deal. If one of the cities isn't a good fit for a group, the sales team will still push the other two destinations.

"Baltimore and Fort Worth have been working together as an East Coast/Midwest package since 2007 and the addition of Salt Lake rounds out the East Coast/Midwest/West Coast package," said Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore. "Through this unique partnership we are providing a service to our customers by giving them choices in terms of geographic regions while dealing with one sales manager who is selling all three cities. It saves them time and makes the process of booking a meeting or convention more convenient."

The sales teams at each city will work to book convention business within the partnership package, a model that most recently led to a multicity booking by SAGES, a worldwide community of surgeons, for Baltimore and Salt Lake in 2013 and 2014, respectively, that will bring 2,500 attendees to each city and utilize a total of 6,770 room nights. Fort Worth's sales team was also instrumental in Baltimore booking the inaugural launch of Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (AIBTM), a first-time global event with Reed Travel Exhibitions that will put Baltimore on the map in 2011 as an international convention and meeting site.

"In this day and age of shrinking resources it is exciting to join a team that shares our passion for sales, and can help share the message about Salt Lake's meeting and convention product," said Scott Beck, president and CEO, Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. "When you look at our respective clients, like the National Sheriff's Association, we clearly have a synergy that more convention and meeting clients need to know about, and this partnership will allow each of our unique destinations more exposure, and the opportunity to showcase our incredible product."

"Fort Worth is thrilled to welcome the great city of Salt Lake to our sales partnership," said David DuBois, president of the Fort Worth CVB. "We look forward to expanding our sales efforts while making it easier for meeting managers to consider three excellent and geographically diverse destinations.

The arrangement is unique to the convention industry and was developed with common goals in mind. One major component is to offer the meeting professional efficiency in learning about and building strong relationships with three dynamic cities in each main region of the country. As a result, these enhanced relationships will allow Baltimore, Fort Worth and Salt Lake City to increase the economic impact of conventions and meetings in their respective cities.

Contacts:
Sara Hisamoto
Visit Baltimore
410-659-7071

Kelly Campbell
Fort Worth CVB
817-698-7841

Shawn Stinson
Salt Lake City CVB
801-534-4913