Since the planet-shifting terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the travel industry has never been the same. Business meetings and leisurely vacations were canceled or postponed. Hotels have suffered, as have travel agencies, airlines and just about every segment of the convention market.

But one little-mentioned segment of the meeting and convention world has continued to grow despite uncertainty left in the wake of 9-11: religious meetings and conferences. Kentucky convention and visitors bureaus, along with hotels and other similar businesses, are taking note, and doing all they can to lure those meetings to their cities.

According to Dr. DeWayne Woodring, executive director and CEO of the Indianapolis-based Religious Conference Management Association, the religious meetings and conference market is huge, and only getting bigger.

“The economic impact is staggering,” Woodring said. “The religious market is so large that it alone holds two-and-a-half times the number of conferences and meetings than the entire corporate meetings industry.”

Meeting and conference organizers who belong to Woodring’s organization hold some 15,000 conventions and meetings a year, which attract 14.6 million people, Woodring said. The organization has about 3,200 members, according to its Web site, www.rcmaweb.org.

Hotel executives see plenty of potential in this market. Erin Molley, sales account manager for the Holiday Inn at the Cincinnati Airport in Erlanger, Ky., said the religious market is a perfect match for her hotel, and she’s anxious to have the extra business. Religious groups are often flexible on the dates and times of their meetings, which helps hotels bolster business during what otherwise might be down times. She thinks the market is still growing.

“Since Sept. 11 (2001), there has been such a focus on religion to give people hope and help them reconnect with their families,” Molley said. “We are finding churches are having more success getting people interested in meetings than they did before Sept. 11. It’s sad that that’s what it took. But it’s had a huge impact.”

Working with faith-based groups can have its quirks. Groups sometimes have unusual requests and are rate sensitive, Molley said. One group of teen-agers who came to ski at nearby slopes had a prayer service at 10:30 p.m. The hotel gladly accommodated them.

And while corporate customers will pay between $99 and $119 per room per night, religious groups want the price point a little lower, typically at $79 to $95 per room per night. “We obviously wish we could get better rates,” Molley said. “Who wouldn’t? But I think it’s fair. We give concessions and will continue to because we need them.”

New programs
Molley’s hotel is taking part in a new program started this year by the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau called Join Hands. The promotional plan offers a variety of enticements designed with the religious market in mind. The CVB, based in Covington, Ky., offers free name badges, registration assistance, meeting planning assistance and even a cash donation of about $1 per hotel room booked for religious organizations. Hotels in the Northern Kentucky area are offering flat rates for up to four people per room, free meeting space, special meal prices, extended food service for late meetings and bus parking.

Barbara Dozier, vice president of sales and marketing for the Northern Kentucky CVB, said the market is becoming increasingly important. “There is not a hotel in this country that is not familiar with the religious market,” Dozier said. “It’s very rich in rooms and attendees. It’s a huge market. Hotels all over the country are familiar with this type of business. The question is, ‘Are you willing to commit to it, and do you want it? And if you want it, what are you willing to do to get it? What is your strategy to get it?’”

The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau has also started a program to recruit more religious-themed business. Their program offers ice cream socials, entertainment for praise services and other amenities for religious meeting attendees to try to bring some of that business to Lexington.

“(Religious meetings and conventions) are very important to Lexington because we are such a nice fit for them,” said Carol Juett, destination sales account executive for the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have a long-standing heritage of religious groups in this area. We have many churches and denominations. Religious groups look for local religious groups to host them and help them. We work with our local contacts to help host them.”

A different approach
But luring religious business isn’t all about incentives and price points. Working with religious groups takes a different approach, noted Woodring, of the Religious Conference Management Association. The RCMA held its first conference in Louisville in 1973 and will meet there again in 2007. Its next meeting is in January in St. Louis.

Woodring said his organization sold all of its exhibit space for its January meeting in less than 48 hours. More and more CVBs are learning how to work with religious groups, and are aggressively recruiting the business.

“You must come to know the people in the field,” Woodring said. “You have to realize that people in religious fields are part of a fellowship. The meeting planners want to get to know you as a human being first, and then as the provider of a service or concept. Once they get to know you and trust you, they are very loyal.”

James T. Wood, president and CEO of the Greater Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, knows that. That’s why he thinks the business is so vital to Louisville’s tourism industry. Wood will be presenting a seminar at the next RCMA meeting on how to attract the religious market.

Louisville was awarded the bid for the RCMA 2007 conference, Wood said, in part because of a video the CVB created to help play up Louisville’s attributes. The CVB recruited religious meeting planners based in Louisville to explain on camera why Louisville was a great location for the meeting.

Since Wood came to the CVB a year ago, the organization has created four tailor-made videos designed for specific religious groups. He said a knowledge of different faiths – and the nuances within them – helps a sales staff know what to promote and what not to.

For instance, some faiths eschew alcohol, but some do not. So, the CVB has to be careful how it promotes Louisville’s new Fourth Street Live! entertainment district.

But all members of all faiths, and even most non-religious meeting planners, are happy to hear that the adult-oriented businesses that were once directly across from the Convention Center are gone, and will soon be replaced by a hotel, Wood said.

In coordination with the state, the CVB is currently trying to keep the National Quartet Convention in Louisville. Some 40,000 singers attend the meeting, one of the largest Louisville hosts. The National Quartet Convention is currently seeking bids for its 2007, 2008 and 2009 meetings. “We’ve put together a very aggressive bid in partnership with the state,” Wood said. “They use a lot of convention space. It’s a wonderful convention for Louisville.”

Geographic advantages
Woodring, of the RCMA, said Kentucky can be a great state for religious meetings. It’s located in the center of the country, so meeting planners may find getting crowds there is easier than with locations on the coasts. Plus, religious meeting planners want new places to hold meetings. Some take their faith to the streets during meetings, and are looking for cities they’ve not visited in the past to help spread their message.

“They are purposely looking for new venues so they may witness and give support to their fellow believers,” Woodring said. “As they seek new venues, Kentucky is one of those places that is actively inviting religious organizations to come and experience what is there.”

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Anatomy of a Religious Convention

The Presbyterian Church USA, headquartered in Louisville, holds its General Assembly meeting every other year starting this year. (It previously met annually.) The group most recently met in Richmond, Va.

Deborah Davies, manager of assembly services for the Presbyterian Church USA, said the church has a formal list of needs for any city in which it meets. The organization prefers to meet in June, but will meet at other times to save money. For instance, in 2010, the assembly will be held in Minneapolis from July 3-10, because room rates will drop dramatically during the holiday.

The assembly’s largest meeting includes between 1,700 and 2,500 people, with the total conference attendance at around 3,200. But it needs lots of small rooms in addition to a large assembly area. The local Presbytery, the regional governing body for the Presbyterian Church, must provide 1,500 volunteers and $50,000 to assist with meeting arrangements.

The church agreed to meet in Richmond when the convention center was little more than a rendering and with a promise of funding from the Virginia state government. Attendees did wish for more restaurant options around the convention center – a fairly common problem that will likely be an issue again when Birmingham, Ala., hosts the assembly in 2006, Davies said.

The Presbyterian Church does have one unusual request for whichever city plays host to its meeting: It must be allowed to bring in its own communion supplies. That’s often a variance from convention centers’ agreements with their caterers. But most hosts quickly make the exception, Davies said.

Cleo Battle, vice president of sales for the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said his organization was happy to have the meeting. Expanding the convention center is helping his organization attract a wide range of religious meetings.

“At the end of the day, if we had not expanded the convention center, they would not have met in Richmond,” he said.

Robyn Davis Sekula is a contributing writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com