Pat Moscaritolo’s, President & CEO Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau

26/05/2009 USA

Pat Moscaritolo

"The global downturn has impacted our financial industries the most"

Recently America’s favourite city by the readers of a travel magazine, Boston has been developing a new programme to attract more and more delegates and meeting planners. BWMN goes further with Pat Moscaritolo, President & CEO of Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau .

BWMN: According to you, what are Boston's best assets to attract both national and international meeting planners?

Pat Moscaritolo: Boston ’s scale is a major selling point for the association market and for meeting planners. It’s a “walkable” city, easy to get around, with a wonderful streetscape that blends both the “old” world traditions with a “new” world contemporary look. It’s a city very clearly steeped in American history. Its rich tradition of history dates back to its founding in 1630. It’s also a city that is a center for education, finance, the arts, and healthcare. Today it is one of the top meeting and convention cities in the world as a result of more than $20 billion dollars of investment in our seaport, airport, transportation and convention facilities since 1996. Boston for 2008 was chosen as the top city in the UnitedStates by ICCA for international meetings, ahead of New York , Washington , and Chicago .

BWMN: How is the destination resisting the global downturn?

Pat Moscaritolo: The global downturn has impacted our financial industries the most. Boston is a major international money management center so there has been a drop off in business activity in this sector of our economy. However our medical, life sciences, educational and research industries have not been impacted by the global downturn. Boston ’s strength as an economic center has always been its diversification and this diversification across 5 major industry clusters has helped us weather this economic downturn.

BWMN: You offer meeting planners a brand new programme in association with many partners. Could you tell us more about it?

Pat Moscaritolo: The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau with its hotel and congress centers have launched a major “value” added meetings programme to assist planners with the challenge they face in this economic period. The special MEET IN AMERICA’s FAVORITE CITY initiative gives planners and delegates access to special hotel offers, transportation benefits and unique restaurant and Bureau services from our award winning Convention Services team.

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