A centre of culture, sport and academe, the unofficial capital of New England is also home to world-class MICE venues. Paul Revel visits ‘the hub’
BOSTON, HISTORIC BIRTHPLACE of American independence, is booming – certainly in terms of visitors. “For the third year in a row, according to US Department of Commerce data, 2011 saw an increase in overseas visitors to Boston, despite the recession, with growth of 11 per cent,” says Patrick Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GBCVB). He adds that of the 1.3 million international visitors in 2011, 467,000 were business travellers, an 8.5 per cent year-on-year increase. “The only US destination that grew faster than us was Las Vegas.” He expects further rises for 2012, helped by increased international flights to the city.
These figures are reflected by traffic at Boston’s Logan International airport: passenger numbers for 2011 set a new record, and at just shy of 29 million, were around 800,000 higher than the previous peak in 2007.
Boston’s distinctive New England charms were showcased to the wider business travel world in July this year, when 6,600 delegates arrived for the annual GBTA conference. The massive Boston Convention and Exhibition Centre comfortably swallowed the hundreds of exhibition stands, seated lunches for more than 6,000, and at times dozens of seminars, meetings and CEO panel debates simultaneously in its 80-plus meetings spaces.
However, convention centres on this scale are fairly standard fare in major US cities. Its 516,000sq ft of exhibit space and 160,000sq ft of meetings space, plus a 40,000sq ft ballroom, puts it in around tenth place nationally in terms of size. What was of more interest to delegates with an eye on meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) potential was the rich variety of characterful venues showcased in the conference parties: boats on the harbour, the Boston Symphony Hall, historic theatres and atmospheric nightclubs. Small wonder one of the city’s many epithets is ‘the hub’.
Robert Bottomley is account director at events specialist Grass Roots. He cites a range of eye-catching venues including the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, and Fenway Park, famous home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, which can host up to 5,000 guests.
Other high-end options include the Museum of Fine Arts, the ultra-exclusive Harvard Club and the Harvard Medical School Conference Centre. At the Community Rowing Boathouse on the Charles River, events can be preceded by team-building crewing lessons on the water.
Private whale-watching trips can be arranged in season, taking advantage of the migration hotspots rich in excellent sightings of humpback, finback and minke whales.
Meetings friendly
Another boost to business here, says the GBCVB, is that it’s switched on to making buying meetings here as streamlined as possible. The bureau has more than 1,200 members and Moscaritolo says it helps planners with complimentary requests for proposals (RFPs) which it can distribute online for all aspects of an event. It can also help with site inspections, promotions to generate attendance and destination collateral for delegates.
Another factor is geographical location. It’s one of the shorter transatlantic routes from Europe, with eight flights a day from London. It’s also a short hop to New York, with flights on average every hour, plus there’s the option of Amtrak’s business-class Acela Express train service – 3 hours 20 minutes compared to around 45 minutes flying, but without the attendant airport hassles and transfers.
Bottomley says: “Grass Roots’ finds a number of US-based financial and professional services clients choose Boston for events, as it’s an easy destination, especially in terms of access – great air lift and train access.” He adds that room prices average 10-15 per cent cheaper than New York at most times.
However, all this is not to say Boston has been exempt from the effects of the economic strain – the GBCVB says it is seeing meetings booking shorter, both in lead time and length of stay. But it claims that the destination’s strategic advantages mean those that do book “experience record-breaking attendance levels”.
Defying conventions
The Greater Boston area has more than 150 hotels and 30,000 guest rooms and, as you’d expect, all the major brands are represented, plus some well-regarded independent properties. However, Grass Roots’ Bottomley warns: “Annual graduation ceremonies for Boston and Harvard Universities take place during mid- to end-of-May, when hotel availability is limited and room rates can be high. Also, a number of annual city-wide conventions take place throughout the year, so it’s worth checking this when enquiring about dates.”
Moscaritolo cites the city’s compact size as an advantage to bookers. “A comment we hear often is how accessible the city is, and how easy it is to get around,” he says. “You can put all of Boston proper in New York’s Central Park – that puts the size in perspective. It’s easy to walk from end to end in a little over an hour.”
Bottomley agrees: “It’s a safe, walkable city, so it’s easy to manage a programme in Boston, with short transfers from the airport. When delegates have free time, they can easily get around by foot and find great restaurants and bars themselves.”
And, of course, a few minutes from the city centre, just over the Charles River in Cambridge, is America’s oldest university, Harvard. It is the most famous of more than 60 universities and colleges in the area, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The wealth of educational and medical institutions has led to another sobriquet – the ‘Athens of America’ – and is both a source of venues for bookers and MICE business for the local economy. GBCVB says education, medical and biotechnology are key sectors for meetings, with finance another major client.
In the 1770s Boston fired the first shots that “were heard around the world” and sparked the American Revolution. However, the message seems to be that attitudes towards the British have mellowed in the ensuing centuries and, now, MICE buyers, at least, are definitely welcome back.