Ottawa Tourism says that while the industry hasn’t fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, all indicators suggest it is gaining momentum.
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After grinding to a halt at the height of the pandemic, meetings and conventions are back with a vengeance as business leaders clamour to reconnect face-to-face, local industry leaders say.
Chris Bosley, general manager of the Infinity Convention Centre in the city’s south end, told OBJ this week he expects 2023 will be the busiest year yet for the facility, which opened in 2016 and has about 17,000 square feet of meeting space.
“Just from speaking with people, they’re optimistic that things will get better and they’ll be able to start meeting again,” Bosley said. “The first thing they’re saying is, ‘It’s so nice to be back in person again.’”
The pandemic wreaked havoc with Ottawa’s convention industry as COVID-related shutdowns and capacity restrictions wiped most gatherings off the calendar for the better part of 2020, as well as much of 2021 and the first few months of 2022.
According to Ottawa Tourism, total room nights booked at the city’s meeting halls fell 91 per cent between 2019 and 2020. The industry was hit even harder in 2021, when bookings were down 94 per cent compared with two years earlier.
But the industry bounced back faster than many observers anticipated after COVID restrictions were lifted last spring, hotel and convention executives say, fuelled by a thirst for in-person get-togethers after two years of almost nothing but virtual meetings.
“The second half of (2022) we saw a lot more inquiries,” said Nyle Kelly, general manager of Kanata’s Brookstreet Hotel. “We’re seeing a comfort level from groups and conferences to get back into in-person meetings.”
Even once capacity limits were lifted last year, Kelly figured it would take at least until 2025 for bookings to return to pre-pandemic levels. He’s now revising his earlier prognosis, suggesting the industry could be back to full health as early as next year.
“There’s a lot more positivity out there than there was even six months ago,” Kelly said. “We will know a lot more three months from now. We’re optimistic.”
That sentiment is echoed by the EY Centre’s Neill Bales. The general manager of the city’s largest meeting and convention space says bookings for 2022 are on par with 2019, when the 220,000-square-foot facility staged 120 events that drew a total of 750,000 visitors.
“So far, everything is looking very good,” said Bales, noting that all of the EY Centre’s marquee events, including the Ottawa Home and Garden Show, the Ottawa Boat & Outdoors Show and Ottawa Comiccon, are slated to return this year. “The whole mix is kind of happening.”
Bales did attach one caveat, however. Should the recession predicted by many economists materialize, that could dampen consumer confidence and cause buyers to rethink big-ticket purchases like boats and RVs, he acknowledged.
But people still love to browse even if they’re not actually pulling the trigger on transactions, Bales added.
“We may see a little bit of a dip in attendance numbers, but I don’t anticipate it being too low,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a huge concern.”
At the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre on Coventry Road, convention and catering director Claudio Dinardo is equally bullish about his facility’s outlook for 2023.
“I’m seeing clients coming back to us that I haven’t seen for the last three years, so it’s looking good,” Dinardo said. “We’re busy.”
Ottawa Tourism says that while the industry hasn’t fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, all indicators suggest it is gaining momentum.
Spokesperson Jantine Van Kregten said the marketing agency is “optimistic about the meetings and conventions scene in 2023” and predicts this year’s total room bookings will finish at about 85 per cent of 2019 levels.
Ottawa Tourism is seeing a “steady stream of new inquiries” from both domestic and international organizations, she added, explaining that the agency is focused on landing large “anchor events” to help kickstart the industry’s resurgence.
“It can take years from the time of identification to securing the business for our destination,” Van Kregten said in an email to OBJ on Friday. “Yet they are important as other events may choose to tag onto them, they present community-building opportunities, sometimes lead to infrastructure improvements, and more.”
