Convention bookings are down this year from those for 2002, but the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau is plotting to narrow the gap before year-end.


Still, before the U.S. invaded Iraq last week, visitor activity in the Spokane area appeared to have rebounded somewhat after slumping in the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With the onset of the war, however, the hospitality industry here and nationally is bracing for another likely slowdown in activity.


John Brewer, executive director of the Spokane CVB, says rough figures show that booking for conventions to be held during 2003 in Spokane County had fallen about 10 percent from bookings for full-year 2002. That includes conventions at the Spokane Convention Center and adjoining facilities as well as other venues, such as the Davenport Hotel and the Red Lion Hotel at the Park.


The CVB hopes to narrow that to about a 5 percent slide by trying to land yet this year some smaller, regional conferences that dont book sites as far in advance as larger gatherings, Brewer says.


Were going to offer some incentives to get them to book and do it in a hurry, he says.


The CVB, in conjunction with hotels and other hospitality businesses, is developing incentive packages geared toward specific dates for which the convention center isnt already booked.


Such incentives will include discounted hotel-room rates and tickets to entertainment events. For example, Brewer says the CVB is working on one package that would make tickets available to for a sold-out concert featuring recent Grammy Award winner Norah Jones.


The CVB will use its incentives to target associations that meet semiannually or quarterly and typically hold conferences that attract 100 or more attendees.


The solution is short term, but the dip in convention activity appears to be temporary as well, Brewer says. At this point, convention bookings for 2004 already are higher than what the CVB has on the books for 2003 and also exceed convention business in 2002.


Large conventionsthose with over 1,000 attendeestypically are booked two to three years in advance, so the softness the industry is seeing now really reflects the uncertainty event planners felt immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Brewer says.


In the hotel industry in Spokane County, room demand and revenue both increased in 2002 compared with 2001, according to a recent survey conducted by Hendersonville, Tenn.-based Smith Travel Research. Occupancy rates fell, however, because room supply increased at a greater rate than demand, the survey shows.


The challenge is that hotel supply continues to outpace demand, Brewer says. Those people had more choices in where to stay, thereby making the hotel industry more challenged.


The survey says room demand increased by about 8 percent, while room supply jumped by 10 percent. Consequently, the average occupancy rate dipped to 58 percent, down about 3 percentage points from the previous year. The average nightly room rate dropped slightly, to about $63.50 a night.


With the war in Iraq under way, the CVB is anticipating uncertainty in the travel industry and is working to provide those in the hospitality industry here with updated information on developing travel trends.


One source of such information, the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association of America, is forecasting that the war will hurt the travel business.


In a statement on its Web site, the association says, There is no question in our minds that a war with Iraq will be yet another great blow to an already fragile industry.


Brewer says the CVB is developing a short-term marketing strategy to fill more rooms here this year, an endeavor it undertook even before the war started.


With rising gas prices and a hesitancy to fly in light of the war, Brewer says he expects more regional recreational travel this year. To take advantage of that, the CVB plans to step up its marketing campaigns in cities that are within a six-hour drive of Spokane. Such campaigns could center on gasoline promotions that would include free or discounted gas for visitors. It also will promote upcoming Spokane-area events more aggressively.


Meanwhile, the Washington Legislature is considering bills that could provide an additional funding mechanism for tourism marketing.


If enacted, the bills (SB 6026 and HB 1581) would broaden current business-improvement district laws so that cities, with approval of local hotels, could create tourism business-improvement districts to generate money through an additional room tax earmarked for tourism marketing. The CVB has come out in favor of those bills.