With a contribution of almost $602,306,000 made by business clients, the 2018 data confirm the economic importance of business tourism in Quebec. A total of 3,443 conventions and events were held in Quebec, meaning that each week, an average of 66 major business tourism events took place. On an annual basis, these activities totalled 1,009,836 overnight stays, for an average of 19,420 a week!
Business tourism is defined as a sector of economic activity, typically business trips and business travel to attend corporate events, training and information events, and events for commercial or corporate activities, along with activities and services provided by professionals in the field of leisure travel.[i]
Mr. Steeve Gagné, president and head of the Quebec Association of Convention Professionals Statistics Committee, stated that “since 2016, we have been presenting a global portrait of business tourism in Quebec. Our annualised data are disaggregated based on two axes: the province of Quebec, including the three entry points (Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau), on the one hand, and the other 26 regions on the other. These two groups make up the QACP network. We find that this is important to get a better picture of the economic importance of our sector and business realities, which are significantly different between the different centres active in business tourism.”
The Regional Portrait
The QACP’s regional network had a strong economic performance in 2018, with 2,084 conventions and events, 359,308 overnight stays and more than $101 million in tourism spending. The compilation also allows to obtain a portrait of an average event held in the regions: the event lasts for three days, generates 172 overnight stays, with average spending of $48,470.
“The economic contribution of business tourism is even more important since the economic impacts are distributed throughout Quebec. You need to understand that our data gives us a portrait of a client that used commercial lodging during an event which generated a minimum of 40 overnight stays. The numbers we are releasing today are conservative, as the impact of participants that don’t sleep in a hotel is not taken into consideration. In short, our overall sectoral performance is likely to be even higher!” added Mr. Gagné.
Each calculated overnight stay is equivalent to the rental of a room in a hotel establishment for one night. The term “event” includes sports competitions, expositions, fairs, and festivals. The term “convention” also includes colloquium, business meetings and training sessions. Direct spending by a participant during a convention is evaluated at $338 per overnight stay and $220 during an event. While this scale applies to the majority of destinations, we have adapted them for Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau ($440 for a convention and $287 for an event) and Laval ($405 for a convention and $240 for an event) to better capture their realities. This direct spending takes place not only in lodging establishments but also in restaurants, attractions, boutiques, local producers and transportation companies in member regions.
“While we are conscious of the methodological limits of our annual calculations, which makes historical correlations difficult, by correlating data from a control group of destinations, we note that the regional market seemed active and grew in 2018. Conversely, the results from the three entry points were similar to those of last year,” noted Mr. Gagné.
In 2018, statistical data was collected from 29 destinations: Beauce, Bromont, Charlevoix, Drummondville, Gatineau-Outaouais, Granby, Magdalen Islands, Lac-Saint-Jean, Lanaudière, Laurentians, Laval, Lévis, Maskinongé (Mauricie), Matane, Memphrémagog, Montérégie, Montreal, Nicolet-Yamaska, Quebec City, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup, Saguenay, Saint-Hyacinthe, Shawinigan, Sherbrooke, Thetford, Tremblant (Laurentians), Trois-Rivières and Victoriaville.
A Sector Under the Microscope
The QACP enthusiastically welcomed the announcement made by the Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Caroline Proulx, on March 14th of this year. She revealed the first phase of the Business Tourism Strategic Process, which should lead to the preparation of a provincial sectoral diagnostic. The QACP is collaborating with the work of committees piloting this process and is confident that it can improve the regional statistical performance indicators it has been producing since 1996.
“The sectoral portrait presented by the QACP will likely again change over the coming years following the refinement of performance indicators, which should be better defined and as such, better accounted for. As an example, sports events, which have always been included in the QACP’s compilations, will be more clearly defined in the future, or even handled separately in our next compilations. Given the importance of the sports sector in the regions, it will require creative and distinctive analysis methods,” believes Ginette Bardou, QACP General Manager.
In Conclusion
“I would like to come back to the importance of business tourism for the regions. It often makes a difference, allowing companies to be profitable outside of the traditional leisure tourism period. Companies are then able to update their infrastructure and further train their staff on a continual basis. In both the regions and major urban centres, quality is always key!”, concluded Mr. Gagné.
The QACP brings together 146 qualified organisations and actors who understand the convention market in their respective regions. These business tourism professionals are the front line resources where planners can get free support and find their next business event location. The strength of the QACP network will ensure the success of any event across Quebec! Go to www.congres.com for more details.
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Source Steeve Gagné
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Information Ginette Bardou |
[i] Quebec Association of Business Tourism, Business Tourism Vocabulary, https://www.congres.com/toolbox/vocabulary
