Visit Detroit today announced nearly 100 new meetings and sporting events worth more than $200 million are headed to the region this year and beyond.
The private, not-for-profit organization that seeks to draw conventions and events to metro Detroit also unveiled a national marketing campaign to highlight the new business.
The “Detroit Wins” campaign, unveiled at Visit Detroit’s Annual Partnership Meeting, highlights all of the new meetings and sports booked during the COVID-19 pandemic and will consist of advertising in high-profile publications such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, beginning this week.
It will be supported by public relations efforts and more announcements of business that is expected to be finalized throughout the year.
Claude Molinari, president and CEO of Visit Detroit, says the Detroit Wins campaign is a way of letting other meeting planners and sports organizers know that the city and region are open for business and that other marquee events have shown their confidence by committing to bring their event.
“In this next year, we will welcome a huge volume of high-profile conventions and sporting events, generating about 115,000 room nights. Two of those events — the American Bus Association and CONNECT — have the potential to bring several more future events because their attendees organize and plan events,” Molinari says.
Meetings, conventions, and sporting events mean big business for metro Detroit. Tourism and hospitality employment prior to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed 463,000 direct jobs to the metro Detroit economy and it was ranked as one of the largest industries in the region and statewide.
Among the other meetings on the books are the Automate Conference, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Michigan Elite Volleyball Academy, National Science Teaching Association, International Women’s Forum, Women of Color Stem Conference, United States Bowling Congress, Special Olympics, and many more.
Molinari adds the campaign is intended to encourage local residents to consider bringing their own company meetings as well as their social, fraternal, and association meetings to the region.
What’s more, the city has gained traction as a popular cruise ship stop on the Great Lakes and will welcome 42 port arrivals in 2022, including Viking Cruise Lines, the largest and most recognized river cruise line.
Michigan State Football Head Coach Mel Tucker was the keynote speaker at the Annual Partnership meeting and discussed how to motivate a team, or an organization, and emerge a winner. The meeting also featured three planners from conventions and sports groups headed to Detroit: CONNECT, American Bus Association, and the NCAA who discussed their upcoming events and how the hospitality community can prepare.
For a complete list of conventions and sporting events coming to Detroit, visit here. To view the Detroit Wins video, visit here.
Visit Detroit markets and sells metro Detroit area on a worldwide basis as a destination for leisure and business travel, including conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, tours, and incentive travel to maximize additional visitors, visitor expenditures, state and local tax revenues, and job opportunities.
Nearly 700 businesses are represented in the Visit Detroit membership. The agency was founded in 1896 as the world’s first convention and visitors bureau.
