SHARONVILLE, Ohio — With sights set on major growth prospects this year, though stifled by ongoing Duke Energy Convention Center renovations, Cincinnati tourism officials projected optimism during their annual meeting on Wednesday.
Nearly 500 city hospitality leaders and professionals gathered at the Sharonville Convention Center for the event, which featured guest speakers including Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus and Visit Cincy President and CEO Julie Calvert.
"There's just so many developments that are happening," Calvert said. "There have never been more eyeballs on the City of Cincinnati and what we're doing here in terms of our venues, our partnerships, our tourism opportunities."
One of the most anticipated events will take place on the banks of the Ohio in October 2025: a new, but not-so-new event, America's River Roots Festival.
Similar to the blast-from-the-past Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, America's River Roots will have 12 steamboats take part to celebrate Cincinnati, which at one point was the steamboat capital of the world.
"While the business may be off, the leisure is on the rise," Calvert said, referencing the expected continued drop in convention center-centric visitor traffic in 2025. "We have said all along that we are not out of the convention business. We're just not using the Duke Energy Convention Center for the next 18 months."
The $240 million renovation project broke ground in July 2024. It's expected to wrap up in January 2026.
"The completely reimagined Center will feature modernized meeting rooms, upgraded ballrooms and renovated exhibit hall and pre-function space," according to the Visit Cincy website.
"That's the short term (actions) we have to do to get the longer term, longer vision of bringing in more frequent conventions, higher volume conventions, conventions that we can layer in and have multi-conventions at one time," she said.
Visit Cincy shared with WCPO 9 News the city's 2024 hotel occupancy rate through November of last year, which is 60% — a 2.8% drop compared to 2023.
Downtown Cincinnati is home to more than 9,000 hotel rooms, Calvert said, with 28,000 across the entire county.
The space will become crucial as Cincinnati leaders vie for the coveted honor of being selected to host the 2027 Sundance Film Festival.
The Queen City made the list of six possible locations under consideration back in July. Now, it's down to three:
- Cincinnati
- Boulder, Colorado
- Salt Lake City/Park City, Utah
"Talking about the opportunity that exists with Sundance, we wouldn't be pursuing it if we weren't confident that we could absolutely pay off," Calvert said.
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