NATCHEZ &045; A glimmer in the eye of city officials over at least two decades, the Natchez Convention Center opened in April 2002 after 16 months of construction &045; and some controversy.

Municipal candidates in 2000 derided the multi-million center &045; then still a project just on paper &045; as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Defenders of the project &045; which was unanimously approved by the Natchez Board of Aldermen &045; said it would be an economic development tool to bring more new tourism dollars into the city.

The convention center can’t pay for itself in rental fees, proponents said, but it can attract enough events to make the economic impact needed to prove its worth.

So how did the first year and a half go?

Since opening, the $10.7 million convention center has hosted almost 170 events.

Those have ranged from a 10-person Mississippi ETV meeting to a 500-person Southern Christian Services conference to two Food, Home and Health Shows attended by several thousand people.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau has estimated that out-of-town eventgoers spend $200 a day on hotels, meals, gas, souvenirs and the like. That’s multiplied by 1.7 to get the indirect economic impact.

But the key to getting the most out of the convention center is to go after the biggest conventions the facility and local hotels can support &045; and also using local events to fill in the gaps, said Tourism Director Walter Tipton.

&uot;To imply that we’re here just for one group is not accurate,&uot; Tipton said, referring to the balance of out-of-town and local events booked at the center. &uot;We book as much as we can, because an empty room doesn’t do anyone any good.&uot;

The booking of the center works like this:

The center’s salespeople, Stratton Hall and Valerie Quinn, travel to the annual conferences of the associations of association executives &045; yes, there are such organizations &045; in both Mississippi and Louisiana.

&uot;If you want exposure, those are two good ways to do it,&uot; Tipton said. Salespeople also attend annual meetings of such groups as the Black Meeting Planners Association.

Using a handbook from the state Division of Tourism that lists each association, its key contacts and the dates and places of its upcoming conventions, they divide up associations to contact.

In addition, each person has a subspecialty. Quinn is responsible for black tourism events, while Hall takes care of motor coach groups. (Once a group is booked, Event Coordinator Beth Carroll steps in to answer any further questions a group might have about the center or the area.)

To help &uot;sell&uot; the center to such contacts, the CVB uses packets modeled after the ones used in Hattiesburg, which built a convention center in the mid-1990s.

Those packets contain a brochure of facts about Natchez and the center, plus charts of rental rates and charges to rent equipment at the facility. When the facility first opened, the CVB mailed 180 of those packets to associations and meeting planners in the two states.

Also, the CVB brings groups in to visit the center and the area in person. &uot;We have 40 familiarization tours a year, and those range from one person from the Division of Tourism to the Library Association’s entire decision-making board,&uot; Tipton said.

Private citizens also help sell the center. Locals have helped book statewide conventions of their civic groups &045; the Rotary and Lions clubs, for example. And Airport Director Clint Pomeroy helped bring a Mississippi Airport Association conference to town.

And Beau Whittington &045; who has ties to Natchez and meets meeting planners through his business, Convention Display Services &045; brings the CVB leads on potential meetings.

What types of events do the CVB’s staff go after? Both in- and out-of-town events, although such labels can be misleading.

&uot;If Alcorn books its graduation here, you have a lot of families that come into town and book hotel rooms &045; so is that a local event or an out-of-town one,&uot; Tipton said.

With regards to timing, Tipton said, &uot;you’re not going to find an association who’s going to book an event the weekend before Christmas, for example, but Callon Petroleum may want to have their Christmas party.&uot;

From March through early July seem to be peak times for out-of-town conventions and meetings, so the bureau purposely targets events &045; like the Police Chiefs Association convention in November &045; that are held in off-peak months.

&uot;With Natchez becoming a wedding destination, I’d like to try to get a bridal show in here in January, when most people are planning their weddings,&uot; Tipton said.

Then there are Natchez’s largest events, such as the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race and the Blues Festival to consider. That’s because out-of-town visitors to those events book up hotel rooms, leaving few rooms for conventiongoers.

At those times, the CVB tries to book local events or leave space open so that musical acts from the festivals can play at the center in case of rain.

With that in mind, however, the bureau goes after as many large events as possible. For one thing, the time and effort involved in booking large and small events is practically the same.

&uot;You spend as much time on 10 people as you do on 600 people, because their questions are basically the same,&uot; Tipton said.

Although food shows, wildlife expos, tool shows and the like bring food traffic to downtown, events that generate hotel room nights have the most economic impact, &uot;and I consider 50-plus (hotel) rooms a sizable event,&uot; Tipton said.

Right now, the center has booked 12 statewide conventions &045; &uot;every one of them over 150&uot; people, according to Tipton &045; through 2006, when the Elks Club convention comes to town.

Events that have vendor shows associated with them are also targeted, because those generate much traffic for the center and bring vendors to the area to spread hotel room nights.

&uot;Southern Christian Services had 350 attendees, but they also had a vendor show as well as a youth show at the end that brought a lot of youth to town,&uot; Tipton said.

Which brought Tipton to his next point &045; that the area needs a convention hotel.

Developer Charles Cato is negotiating with the City of Natchez to bring a proposed casino development to the Roth Hill area &045; and a 160-room convention hotel to a lot across Canal Street form the convention center.

&uot;I have a list of (more than a dozen) conventions that have said they would come here if we only had another hotel,&uot; Tipton said.

Right now, there are about 430 convention-quality rooms available at the Natchez Eola, Ramada and Isle of Capri hotels, but the facilities would only book about 330 of those in blocks for a convention, Tipton estimated.

Even with properties like the Vidalia Comfort Suites and Days Inn to handle overflow guests, the maximum convention the area can handle now is 600 people, he said.

&uot;Plus, having a new hotel brings attention to your area,&uot; Tipton said. &uot;Some (convention groups) want to come to the place that has the newest property.&uot;

But Tipton said he is already seeing past the proposed hotel to a time when the convention center could be the premier small meeting market destination for Mississippi and Louisiana.

&uot;We’re within two hours of two state capitals, and we have a culture that’s a combination of Louisiana French Cajun and deep South,&uot; Tipton said.

&uot;We want to be the preferred meeting place for associations from the two capitals and upscale board level for corporations in New Orleans, just three and a half hours away.&uot;