TOURISM : Meeting Planners Found Anaheim’s Hospitality Suited Their Agendas

Now that the Meeting Planner International convention has ended, the Anaheim Area Visitor & Convention Bureau has been trying to judge whether all the wining, dining and general wooing of the 1,600 delegates was worth the trouble.

After all, these are the people who decide where meetings will be held within their companies. If they like Orange County, they have the power to potentially steer millions of dollars of convention business this way.

So the $500,000 spent to impress them by the bureau, local tour operators and area attractions could be returned in spades if the meeting planners book future meetings in Orange County.

And the verdict?

A poll of the delegates shows that 73% would consider Orange County as a future meeting site. The average meetings budget for each delegate is $1.9 million, each of their respective companies hold an average of 38 meetings a year and they book an average of 9,393 hotel rooms for employees each year.