Table 1

Definitions of convention bureaux

Author(s)TermDefinition
Gartrell (1988), p. 21Convention and visitors bureaux“Bureaus sell cities”
Convention and visitors bureau have one fundamental mission: to solicit and service conventions and other related group business and to engage in visitor promotions which generate overnight stays for a destination, thereby enhancing and developing the economic fabric of the community
Palmer and Bejou (1995), p. 622Visitors and convention bureauxThe visitors bureaux and CB can be regarded as the most developed form of local tourism marketing alliance in the USA. They vary in their authority and organisation and while most are nominally independent of government, some are administered as just another department within a county’s authority. They also vary in size and responsibilities
Getz et al. (1998), p. 331Convention and visitors bureauxCVBs are primarily destination marketing organisations, typically established at the community level for the purposes of fostering meetings and leisure travel
Masberg (1998), p. 67Convention and visitors bureauxA CVB is a cooperative or umbrella organisation for tourism marketing, development and administration in cities and towns
Swarbrooke and Horner (2001), p. 342Convention bureauxAn organisation responsible for marketing a city or area as a convention destination
Beaver (2005), p. 110Convention bureauxConvention bureaux in the travel industry are usually funded either by a local, regional or national government agency, by a cooperative of hotels and conference facilities and sometimes by combination of both. Their function is to provide information to conference organisers about facilities and services in this field available in their countries or areas, e.g. LCB, the London Convention Bureau. Sometimes called convention and visitors bureau, it means exactly the same
Ha and Love (2005), p. 45Convention and visitors bureauxCVBs act as destination developers as well as destination representatives
CVBs serve as the liaison between visitors and meeting planners and the host destination. Services include collecting information from host facilities, such as hotels, attractions, restaurants, and shops to provide information to potential visitors. CVBs provide support in planning meetings, conventions or trade shows so meeting organisers can make the best possible use of all the services, facilities and attractions that a destination can offer
Yuan et al. (2006), p. 326Convention and visitors bureauxAmerican CVBs, one layer of DMOs in the USA, are one of the important information brokers in tourism network. They act as a liaison in coordinating the segmented tourism businesses at a destination and in providing communication links to the consumer
Lee and Lee (2006), p. 115Convention and visitors bureauThe CVB, a comprehensive destination marketer, plays an important role in marketing destinations and their C and E (convention and exhibition) facilities, attracting more events to the destination and thus helping C and E providers reach their ultimate financial goal, making profits
A CVB acts like a centre of the C and E industry, including hotels, restaurants, convention facilities, attractions, tour operators as well as commercial resources in its orbit
Golden-Romero (2007), p. 98Convention and visitors bureau/
housing bureau
Originally, bureaus were created in large US cities to promote their destination to convention groups needing hotel rooms and meeting facilities. As the name implies, the term visitors refers more to the tourism promotion
Ford and Peeper (2008), p. 7Convention and visitors bureauxA CVB is an organisation that both by law and by design is responsible for marketing destination
UNWTO (2010), p. 4Convention bureauxA convention bureau is a specific form of destination governance at local or regional level. It is a type of organisation with a distinct structure and role, typically for urban destinations but also common for rural, coastal and mountain areas. A convention bureau is the entity responsible for promoting and organizing conferences, exhibitions, conventions, incentives and various events at the destination. It could be a non-profit private–public partnership, a company funded by the private sector, a department of public authority or even a private sector trading
Maier and Johanson (2013), pp. 4–5Convention bureauxA convention bureau represents the city or local municipality in its desire to market the city and generate convention attendees based on promotional events and other associated activities. The convention bureau and tourism authority are usually an independent not-for-profit entity funded from several sources
Rogers (2013), p. 120Convention bureaux/convention and visitors bureauxThe bureaux are established as not-for-profit organisations, controlled by management board, to fulfil a strategic marketing role and to be “official” voice of the destination they represent
Marques and Santos (2017), p. 426Convention and visitors bureauxSpecialised organisations in cities promotion (their resources and attractiveness) to captivate the largest possible number of events
Park and Kim (2017), p. 381Convention and visitors bureauxCVBs are important information brokers and disseminators in the local tourism industry and act as a layer of destination management in the USA .With financial support from the local community, one of the critical goals of CVBs is to promote their destinations to both leisure and business travellers
Source: Own elaboration on basis of references listed in the first column

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