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"Religious events are a key market for the Ontario area due to the area's affordability and central location," said Bob Brown, executive director and general manager for OCVB. "With the positive outlook of the nation's economy, companies, associations and religious organizations are spending more on travel and training."
Even Ontario city council members have assisted with the religious revival. After attending a trade show in January 2004 with 1,300 religious meeting professionals, Mayor Paul Leon (former Ontario Mayor Pro-Tem) played an instrumental role in promoting Ontario as an attractive destination to the North American Christian Convention. NACC held its event at the Ontario Convention Center in May 2005, bringing more than $380,000 in economic impact for the city of Ontario.
Faith-based events, which fall within the Social, Military, Educational, Religious, Fraternal (SMERF) market, have increased at the Ontario Convention Center by 58 percent between fiscal year (FY) 2001-2002 and 2004-2005.
Table 1: FY 2004-2005 SMERF events broken down according to geographic source for room night rentals and the number of events:
Room Nights:
- 35.0% – Inland Empire
- 34.0% – San Diego
- 4.0% – Greater Los Angeles
- 27.0% – Out-of-state
Number of Events:
- 137 Events – Inland Empire
- 15 Events – Greater Los Angeles
- 3 Events – Orange County
- 8 Events – Out-of-state
- 7 Events – Bay Area
OCVB's FY 2004-2005 annual report will be available to the media after September 21 and upon completion of analysis. Topic areas to include:
- Projected economic impact for the city of Ontario
- Lead generation and conversion rates
- Marketing strategies and results
- Average Daily Rate (ADR) and occupancy figures
- Confirmed local hotel rooms and booking pace
- Rental revenue
- Confirmed number of events at the Ontario Convention Center for current and future years
- Breakdown of events at the Ontario Convention Center according to market segment and geographic source