RBC Place London closing in on back-to-back strong years: ‘Trucking along’

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RBC Place London is putting the finishing touches on a year that will see more than 200 events, generating more than $22 million in spinoffs, the convention centre’s chief executive says.

In fact, 2024 will rival its best year ever, when pent-up demand from meetings cancelled during the pandemic filled the centre in 2023, Darrin Pollard said.

“We’re busy, we’re happy,” he said. “September was amazing. We have traditional convention business, but there have been a lot of large, multi-day events and local fundraising events.”

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RBC Place expects more than 4,000 people will attend events in October, making it one of the busiest fall seasons ever. Overall the convention centre projects 105,000 people will visit in 2024. 

Largely shut down from 2020 to 2022 because of the pandemic, RBC Place in 2023 experienced pent-up demand with attendance of more than 110,000. To post strong attendance figures for two consecutive years is a sign of repeat business as well as first-time attendees, Pollard said.

“We’re very fortunate. Everything is falling into place,” he said. “We’re seeing a mix of repeat businesses and some first-timers, so things are trucking along nicely.”

London’s geography and size, less costly than Toronto and Ottawa but close to amenities, has helped drive traffic, said Cheryl Finn, general manager of Tourism London, which works closely with RBC Place.

“London is easy to get to and I think there has been some fatigue in going to larger cities for meetings. People want to experience other places,” she said. “There’s an attraction to a mid-sized city that offers a lot of events, festivals. There’s always something going on here.”

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Among some highlights, RBC Place recently hosted the Ontario Liberal party policy conference and annual meeting on Sept. 20 to 22 and ComicCon on Sept. 14-15.

For sheer economic impact, however, the Ontario building officials annual meeting is tough to beat, with 500 people attending events every day for five days, ending Oct. 2.

“Multi-day events are huge economic drivers. They book hotel rooms, eat out in restaurants, shop and they have to get here,” Pollard said.

While figures are not yet available for 2024, in 2023 RBC Place was credited with creating 20,130 hotel room bookings and this year will see a similar total, he said.

Tourism London agrees this year will be about as strong as 2023, Finn said. “Last year was the best we had, and this year is tracking to be successful, too.”

The UNESCO designation of London as a music city has “opened doors” to music attractions here, Finn said, and Tourism London works with RBC Place to woo meetings.

The City of London owns the convention centre and gives it about $700,000 a year in capital grants for ongoing improvements. If the centre posts a surplus, it is placed in reserves for capital work. Last year, it spent more than $1.9 million on capital projects.

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ndebono@postmedia.com

CONVENTIONS

• Ontario Association of Optometrists Conference (450 delegates) in April.
• Canadian Association for HIV Research Conference (425 delegates) in April.
• Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (300 delegates) in June.
• Ontario Liberal Party Convention (800 delegates) in September.
• Ontario Building Officials Association Conference (500 delegates) in September.
• Wounds Canada Conference (500 delegates) in October.
• Ontario Music Educators Association Conference (1,000 delegates) in October.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• TennoCon/Digital Extremes (3,000/day attendance) in July.
• London ComicCon (4,000/day attendance) in September.

MAJOR COMMUNITY EVENTS

• London Chamber of Commerce mayor’s state of the city address (1,100 guests) in January.
• Youth Opportunities Unlimited breakfast (1,000 guests) in February.
• International Women’s Day breakfast (750 guests) in March.
• St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, breakfast of champions (1,100 guests) in June.
• London Chamber of Commerce business achievement awards gala (1,000 guests) in September.
• St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation tribute dinner (1,000 guests) in October.
• Junior Achievement’s business hall of fame gala (700 guests) in October.
• London Health Sciences Foundation knock out kidney disease gala (700 guests) in October.
• Fight To End homelessness gala (1,000 guests) in November.

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