Greater Rochester Visitors Association Inc

Convention/Meeting Sales and Services:Convention Sales and Services is responsible for initiating direct sales contact with associations, organizations and individuals throughout the United States who can choose Monroe County as a site location for meetings and conventions. Professional staff works to familiarize meeting planners about the Greater Rochester features and benefits that support a site choice for conventions, meetings, tradeshows and events. Sales programs include personal sales, tradeshows exhibition, direct marketing, familiarization tours, sales missions and collaborative promotions with the Greater Rochester hospitality industry and other NYS destinations.(Continued on Schedule O)The department routinely evaluates Greater Rochester's resources relative to competitive destinations and uses the information to strengthen the local product and enhance bid proposals for group business.A vital component of successful convention marketing is the endorsement of local and regional residents who are members of, or affiliated with, targeted organizations. The sales and marketing process extends to local individuals in a way that cultivates their support of a bid for Monroe County to be a meeting site for a specific organization.An extensive array of convention services are offered during the sales process and provided to organizations prior to and during their stay in Monroe County. These services enhance the delegates' overall experience and result in higher attendance, lengthened duration of stay and an increase per person visitor expenditures.In 2025, the Convention Sales and Services Division: - Booked meeting and convention business that collectively resulted in 63,696 delegates - Created 42,299 nights worth of future business for Monroe County lodging facilities - Sent 147 service requests to members for booked business opportunities - Distributed 80,663 pieces of Rochester promotional material to event delegates

Tourism/Leisure Marketing: Tourism marketing and development attracts out-of-town leisure visitors who spend time and money at Monroe County attractions, cultural institutions, festivals and events, and in recreational pursuits. The leisure market creates the most personal impressions of the area because of how visitors spend their time and what they experience while here. Monroe County has significant appeal to leisure travelers and is geographically located to capitalize on its internationally known attractions.(Continued on Schedule O)GRVA's tourism and marketing division develops and implements advertising programs, collateral distribution systems, resource enhancement programs, market promotions, and travel-trade partnerships that reach broad tourism markets and special interest groups. Many programs are developed in collaboration with GRVA member organizations and with regional destination marketing partners including entities in the Finger Lakes region and Erie Canal Corridor.Target markets include:- A major focus for year-round visitation encompassing markets within a 250-mile radius including Canadian populations, attracted through digital, print, connected tv, and ooh tactics. - Family travelers from the downstate region of New York state, I-81 corridor in Pennsylvania, and surrounding drive-in markets including western Massachusetts, Vermont, and Cleveland, Ohio. These visitors are attracted through a major campaign that includes digital, print, and connect tv.- Travelers who are already in, or planning visits to nearby regions with an ability to include our county in their travels- International visitors who are traveling by ground transportation from New York City to Niagara Falls, attracted through a program called Wine, Water, and Wonders of New York State in conjunction with Corning Museum of Glass, Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, Destination Niagara USA, Visit Ithaca, Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, Hudson Valley Tourism, Discover Long Island, and Delta Air Lines- Group tour/travel trade, attracted through direct sales programs and with the help of packaged visits that include nearby attractions, wineries, etc.- Encouraging local residents to invite their families and friendsGRVA estimates that a combined 2 million visitors came from at least 50 miles away, across all tourism segments (leisure, business-conventions and sporting event, and international) in 2024. Specific tracking of programs is difficult and research is generally accomplished with regional and state partners. Locally, anecdotal information provided by attractions, weekend and holiday hotel occupancy, comparative event attendance, and industry data tools is largely the source used to measure tourism and related expenditures. Activity indexes are used as a reliable source to help determine leisure interest and resulting business