In this chapter the focus is on Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs). It brings together academic literature on destination management, intermediation, and the meetings-and-events industry, and compares and contrasts that literature with professional opinion and practice. The chapter presents the origins of CVBs and then clarifies their definitions and institutional forms. It argues for the importance of the intermediation role of these key actors and highlights specific CVB functions in relation to the destination. The chapter presents tools to be implemented in order to fulfill those roles and recommends solutions to help CVBs face emerging challenges.
TopIntroduction
The meetings-and-events industry includes not only conferences, congresses, conventions, trade shows, and exhibitions, but also corporate, business meetings and incentives. These are gatherings of business people, scientists, and politicians in a given location, outside their normal environment, for economic, strategic, or research purposes. Their importance is growing in the contemporary world as these events offer a means for coping with an unprecedented explosion of knowledge, and they satisfy the need for interpersonal relationships among members of our atomized societies (Zelinsky, 1994, p. 68). Meetings and events are by their nature temporary, as they include same-day travel and overnight stays, usually not exceeding 3–4 days. They are also unique (Getz, 1997). At the same time, their organization requires material, technological, and human resources. This industry plays a key role in contemporary economies. By bringing together many participants at the host destination, it provides many direct and indirect benefits to the local economic fabric. It involves numerous stakeholders, who may be public or private actors or a combination of the two, such as local, regional, or national government agencies, chambers of commerce, conference, convention, and exposition facilities, event agencies, lodging service providers (independent hotels, hotel chains, and bed-and-breakfasts), catering and food industry actors. It makes a substantial economic impact on given territories and destinations, it creates jobs, enhances local development, and improves local infrastructures, facilities and even transportation. Numerous cities around the world have engaged in its development and the industry is expanding worldwide (Gaworecki, 2007, p. 35). Moreover, as emphasized already by Butler (1916, p. 230) […] conventions have a twofold value. First, there is the money they leave in a city to enter the channels of trade. The second is the advertising value to the city.