NewsFor Your Review: Some Recently Published Fiscal Claims By LB Convention & Visitors Bureau
(October 7) LBReport.com posts in the public interest some fiscal claims recently published by the LB Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The September edition of "Convention Alert," published by the LB Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, lists September LB conventions, itemizing convention organizations, data/location, attendance and "economic benefits." At the top of the list, the statement below appears (in italics in original):
"The following information is for media use only. Combined, these conventions will bring nearly $12,430,000 in economic benefits and over 29,000 people to Long Beach."
[LBReport.com note: By our calculation (dividing claimed benefits by number of claimed people), this would amount to roughly $428 in "economic benefits" per person]
The September/October 2000 edition of "Long Beach Notes," the newsletter of the LB Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, contains a chart labelled "Return on Investment." Text accompanying the chart states:
"During May and June, the Bureau sales staff booked the following meetings and conventions to Long Beach. These groups are expected to generate $56 million [emphasis in original] in spending at hotels, dining, shopping, attractions and rental cars during their stay in the city."
The chart itemizes "May bookings" and "June bookings" with group names, dates, attendance and ROI [apparently, return on investment]
LBReport.com added the attendance figures on the chart. May attendance was 52,415 and claimed return on investment was $30,696,425. June attendance was 36,500 and claimed return on investment of $25,396,500.
[LBReport.com note: By our calculation (dividing claimed "return on investment" by number of claimed people), this would amount to roughly $585 per person in May and $695 per person in June.]
As of Thursday, October 5, the LB CVB's web site contained the following representation:
"...Approximately 4.5 million visitors travel to Long Beach each year creating nearly $343 million in direct visitor expenditures, making tourism one of the city’s most lucrative industries."
[LBReport.com note: By our calculation (dividing claimed direct visitor expenditures by number of claimed visitors), this would amount to roughly $76.22 per visitor.]
LBReport.com has requested further information from CVB on its published figures. When our voice mail messages spanning several days are returned, we'll report CVB's response.
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