At its Annual Meeting at the Duke Energy Convention Center on March 25, the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau unveiled a new brand identity and announced several key growth initiatives to an audience of 400 business professionals, civic leaders and members of the regional hospitality industry.

The 75-year-old destination marketing organization’s new name is “Visit Cincy,” created to better align with the CVB’s sales and marketing efforts, as well as its regional collaboration with meetNKY, the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, to reach key markets for tourism, convention and meeting business, according to CVB officials.

“The Visit Cincy brand will be an exciting catalyst to rally our regional partners and meet new growth opportunities,” said Julie Calvert, president and CEO of Visit Cincy. “Visit Cincy is more than a name, it’s an invitation that conveys our mission and a call to action.”

The three key growth initiatives Visit Cincy will be zeroing in on in 2022 include building economic impact; embedding diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization and in the industry; and expanding its partnership with meetNKY, said CVB officials at the meeting.

Featured speaker Steve Leeper, president and CEO of the non-profit development organization Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), addressed the audience about the scope of the new convention district being planned for downtown Cincinnati. In January, 3CDC was chosen by the Cincinnati City Council and Hamilton County to lead the project, which includes redeveloping the convention center and surrounding properties and a new adjacent hotel. 

Leeper went on to discuss the next steps for the project, which includes the recent razing of the previous headquarter hotel, the Millennium Cincinnati. He said 3CDC is currently completing an updated market study for the convention district and once completed, will issue an RFP for a new convention center hotel.

Along with Calvert and Leeper, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval; Hamilton County Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas and Jeff Berding, co-CEO of FC Cincinnati and Board Chairman of Visit Cincy, made presentations at the Annual Meeting.

“[Cincinnati has] so much to offer here already—arts, culture, food, sports, business,” Berding said. “Marquee events and larger conventions are ready to come to Cincinnati. Leisure travelers already are.”

In total, the CVB has booked definite future hotel rooms at 101 percent of its 2021 goal, representing $105 million dollars in room nights booked, while tentative room nights are booked at 107 percent of the goal. Momentum for 2022 surged in February during the Super Bowl, when downtown hotels saw a 77 percent occupancy rate during what is a typically slower time for tourism in Cincinnati, according to Visit Cincy officials.

“When the CVB is strong, our regional economy is strong,” Dumas said. “When the CVB is strong, Hamilton County is strong. And when Hamilton County is strong, we have a powerful platform to improve economic empowerment, improve access to opportunity and improve the quality of life for all of our residents.” 

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