Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau

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home : about CVB : what we do

The RCVA has four operating divisions: Convention Sales and Services, Marketing, Membership and Finance & Administration. The RCVA's predecessor, the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau, was founded in 1929, making us one of the oldest destination marketing organizations in the United States. In October 2005, the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau merged with Saint Paul RiverCentre to form a stronger organization, ready to face the challenges of the future together. Today, the RCVA is known as a leader in the field of professional destination marketing and is a driving force in the economic development of Saint Paul. The mission of the Saint Paul RiverCentre Convention & Visitors Authority is to market the greater Saint Paul area to out-of-town visitors, advocate for visitor needs and link the community with visitors. The RCVA functions as a private, non-profit membership organization. The RCVA also administers an educational foundation.

Convention Sales and Services

This division plans and implements programs designed to increase Saint Paul's market share of the meeting business. These programs are designed to create local community awareness of the convention industry and increase sales of Saint Paul as a quality convention and meeting location. Target markets for this division include the state and regional associations, small and medium-sized national associations and corporate meetings.

A major component of this division is convention services, which is responsible for working with meeting planners to provide all services and assistance necessary to assure that the meetings and conventions are successful and will return to Saint Paul in the future. Tracking the sales results, numbers of attendees and economic impacts of the convention/meeting activity is another major responsibility of this department.

Tourism Sales and Marketing

This division is responsible for developing all RCVA marketing programs and promotions. It is also responsible for the motorcoach/group tour market for Saint Paul, as well as promoting tourism for the area. Target markets for the motorcoach/group tour market range from the Central Region that use Saint Paul as the primary destination to the Greater U.S. and International markets that include Saint Paul as pass-through or as one of several destinations.

This division cooperates with Explore Minnesota Tourism and other promotional organizations in the area of sales and marketing activities.Tourism promotions include advertising and fostering the development and marketing of hotel packages for major events and special seasons. The development of statistical analysis and research on the visitor industry also is a responsibility of this division.

Communications

This division is responsible for preparing RCVA promotional publications, visitor guides, package brochures, annual report and web site. The division works closely with writers, encouraging them to cover Saint Paul as a travel destination and a site for meetings and conventions. In addition, this division works with local media to gain exposure for the RCVA, tourism industry issues and conventions being hosted in Saint Paul.

Membership

As a membership organization, the RCVA must retain and expand its base of members and continually strive to obtain measurable benefits for them. This division is responsible for membership solicitation and servicing. Servicing includes providing educational seminars, creating marketing opportunities and developing new and innovative member services and benefits. All staff members support this effort through lead generation and retention activities.

Finance & Administration

Managing the overall direction of the RCVA as well as the day-to-day operations is the function of this group. This division works closely with the Finance Committee in the policy development, budget planning and investment strategies for the RCVA. With significant involvement by the Board, the Administration oversees the policy implementation and management of the entire RCVA.

Additionally, this division works to maintain and strengthen relationships with all sectors of Saint Paul's business community, arts and cultural organizations and city, county and state governmental officials and agencies. To accomplish this we work closely with the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, our Mayor and City Council and Convention and Visitor Bureaus in the metro area and throughout the state.