The Leisure and Hospitality Industry in Greater Miami is continuing its momentum for record employment in 2008. For eleven months of 2008, employment figures have exceeded levels for the preceding seven years for the same time frame. For the eleven months, January – November 2008, an average of 104,800 persons were employed compared to 103,400 during the same period last year. Job$, Job$, Job$. (See chart, right.)
The global campaign, ‘Where Worlds Meet’, which is a $2 million incremental joint partnership of the GMCVB, American Airlines, The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County, Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami continues to promote Greater Miami and the Beaches as a dynamic, world-class destination for vacation, business, and meetings. Since the program launched in September, print ads have generated over 16 million impressions, TV billboards have also generated an additional 16 million impressions and the online campaign running on various travel and newspaper websites has generated over 48 million impressions. The integrated campaign promotes Miami as the ultimate tropical, cosmopolitan tourism destination while showcasing our unique assets as a premier location to host meetings and conventions or to establish a business. All traffic is being directed to the micro-site, www.MiamiWhereWorldsMeet.com which is available in multiple languages.
The GMCVB Convention Sales Team returned from a frigid and snowy Chicago after attending the Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase. This one-day trade show, now in its 20th year, attracted over 100 clients to the Miami booth generating 12 leads for our warm weather destination. GMCVB Sales Representatives also participated with our partners, Hinton & Grusich, at their annual "Encore" customer networking event that hosted 300 meeting planners from the Chicago area
GMCVB Convention Sales returned from selling Greater Miami at the 25th Anniversary of Meetings Quest Boston, December 17, 2008 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts. Due to inclement weather and freezing rain, attendance was limited to 70 meeting planners from the New England area. Twenty-five planners stopped by the Miami booth and two potential leads were brought back to follow up on.
As one of the important partners in the GMCVB’s "Miami Begins With Me" initiative, Miami International Airport (MIA) held its 4th Annual Reward & Recognition dinner at the Miami International Airport Hotel on December 17, 2008. Attending for the Bureau were GMCVB President & CEO William D. Talbert III, CDME, and Nina Cohen, GMCVB Customer Service. The program recognizes one employee a month for outstanding customer service with an Employee of the Year Award being announced and presented at the dinner. This year's winner, Roger Ramos, won 2 roundtrip tickets on American Airlines. Mr. Ramos works in Security and Communications at the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD). Congratulations to all the winners – Miami Begins With YOU!
GMCVB Media Relations assisted a writer/editor for Brides magazine (circulation: 335,834) in Miami December 17-23, 2008. While in town, she was researching the destination for a story on the sexiest, most honeymoon-worthy hotels for the May/June 2009 issue. Brides, established in 1934, serves as a guide for the bride-to-be by providing information on planning a wedding and honeymoon.
GMCVB Media Relations is assisting an editor from Group Tour Magazine and Student Group Tour Magazine; leading trade magazines for the group tour travel planners. The editor will be in Miami from December 25-January 2, 2009 exploring our attractions for editorial purposes. Group Tour Magazine was created as the trade journal for the group tour industry. It provides group tour leaders, planners and travel agents with information about accommodations, restaurants and activities for group tours. Group Tour Magazine has three editions covering the West Coast USA/Canada, South East USA and North East. Each edition has a circulation of 15,000.
Greater Miami and the Beaches will grace the cover of the next Go Go Worldwide "Florida Beaches" brochure – which will feature one of Miami Beach’s brightly painted, signature lifeguard stands. This brochure has a distribution of 150,000 throughout the United States and now Canada with the addition of the Flight Centre Offices. All Liberty Travel offices will feature the brochure as well as being distributed through Go Go’s trade shows hosted throughout the U.S. Go Go Worldwide out of Ramsey, New Jersey, is one of the top tour operators in the Northeast and has been in business over 50 years. They have over 40 offices throughout the United States servicing over 18,000 travel agencies. Flight Center Limited, a giant global retailer based in Australia recently purchased Go Go, which includes the purchase of 193 retail travel locations along the East Coast and Florida. Liberty Travel is the retail arm of Go Go Worldwide.
Greater Miami and the Beaches will play host to two of college football’s biggest games: the 75th Annual FedEx Orange Bowl on January 1, 2009 and the FedEx BCS National Championship Game on January 8, 2009. Both games will be played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens at 8 p.m. The Orange Bowl game will feature Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech; the BCS game is a match up between Oklahoma and Florida. For more information, visit http://www.orangebowl.com/.
Artist Romero Britto has been invited by the head of the Brazilian Delegation to the Louvre Museum to exhibit in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France this winter. His featured painting, "Journey," premiered on December 11th in the prestigious Salon Nationale Des Beaux-Arts 2008, in the Carrousel du Louvre, Salle le Notre, Louvre Museum. Britto's "Journey" alludes to the metaphorical voyage of a young mind learning about the world and the gateways such knowledge can provide for human beings, especially for children. One of the most significant exhibition halls in the world of the arts (given its prominent location and iconic history), the Salon has exhibited the work of a very select group of new and established artists from all over the world for 147 years. Britto, a native of Brazil, has lived in Miami for over 20 years and has a popular gallery located on Lincoln Road in South Beach.
The Miami Mart Airport Hotel has joined the Doubletree brand’s portfolio and re-opened as the Doubletree Miami Mart Airport Hotel & Exhibition Center. The hotel, which is just three miles from Miami International Airport and 20 minutes from the heart of Miami, offers complimentary round-trip shuttle service to the airport for hotel guests (24 hours), a great location near all the hottest Miami attractions, and convenient access to premiere meeting space. Just steps off the lobby, guests can access the Miami International Merchandise Mart, which includes more than 300 stores and show rooms and 155,900 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. The hotel is managed by Davidson Hotel Company, one of the nation’s largest hotel management companies. For more information, contact Cecilia Orbegozo, Director of Sales & Marketing, at (305) 260-8909 or via email at COrbegozo@DoubletreeMiamiMart.com.
Representatives from the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Division I Basketball tournament were in last week to review plans for next year’s 1st & 2nd round basketball tournament, to be held at the American Airlines Arena March 20-22, 2009. Meetings with the host hotels, Florida International University, the host university, and the Miami-Dade Sports Commission were held to finalize plans in motion for this event, the first time in 15 years that the NCAA has been in Miami. For ticket information, visit the website at http://www.Ticketmaster.com/event/1A0040D0E7B70D23?brand=ncaa or call (786) 777-1000 for more information.
