Debbie Fleming, Sales Manager, River Rock Casino Resort, with Tourism Richmond's Gayle Morris, Director of Sales;
Michelle Dunn, Director of Communications & Deidre DeVico, National Sales Manager
The Richmond Olympic Oval offers traditional meeting rooms plus large-scale event space
"Once Upon A Time" TV series takes over the town of Steveston; even shop signs reflect stores only found in "Storybrooke" like Mr Gold's Pawnshop
The city of Richmond, B.C. is going all out to attract the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) market. Travel agents take note!
Richmond intends to step out from under the shadow of neighbouring Vancouver and makes the argument that you don’t have to cross any bridges to get there from the airport. It takes about 10 minutes to reach downtown Richmond on the Canada Line train.
During a recent activity filled jaunt organized by Tourism Richmond, meeting planners were introduced to a series of venues other than hotels with the potential to host MICE events including the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, Richmond Olympic Oval (site of the speedskating competition during the 2010 Winter Olympics) and River Rock Casino.
We also stopped by the Terra Nova Rural Park. This community-based project, operated by Chef Ian Lai, is equipped with an industrial kitchen and outdoor wood burning oven. Its purpose is to provide participants with a hands-on experience in harvesting the gardens and making bread. The project also allows restaurants to have their own plots to enhance their menus with fresh local produce.
Attendees were shown activities that could be incorporated pre- or post-conference. For instance, there's whale watching tours, getting a poker lesson from a pro and paddling in a dragon boat (the UBC Boathouse also provides a nice setting to hold receptions with its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water).
Another option was to walk around Steveston and explore the quaint stores. Visitors may even get a glimpse of the filming of TV series, "Once Upon A Time," currently being shot on location there.
Richmond offers 27 hotels with over 5,000 guestrooms and the city can accommodate 500 guests for a sit-down conference setting or 1,000 for a reception. Many hotels offer MICE facilities – its largest meeting space can be found at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel with over 21,000 sq. ft. of multi-purpose function rooms.
