Thanks to a recent statewide campaign to show the rest of the country just how much New Jersey has to offer, the state’s tourism industry is booming. But it’s more than just vacationers who are flocking to the Garden State – companies and individuals with important meetings to plan are increasingly picking New Jersey to host their big gatherings.
And those meeting planners are giving New Jersey’s convention and meeting space industry a big push.
Two of the state’s three largest conference centers were built in the past decade. The Wildwoods Convention Center in the Southern Shore Region features 125,000 square feet of exhibition space, and the Atlantic City Convention Center offers more space on one floor than nearly any other location on the Eastern Seaboard, and a whopping 500,000 square feet in all.
Clearly New Jersey’s meetings industry is thriving, but what is it about the Garden State that is attracting so much attention?
In many cases, it’s more than finding just the right room – it’s finding just the right room in just the right spot. With its 127 miles of beaches, more than 140 golf courses, the world-famous Atlantic City casino scene, unbeatable restaurants and countless attractions and events, anyone looking for a great spot to hold a meeting won’t need to look any further than New Jersey.
“The unique thing about New Jersey is, we just have everything, from the beaches to easy access to New York City to shopping malls, festivals – we’re absolutely gorgeous during the fall,” says Carey Rushatz, president of the New Jersey chapter of Meeting Professionals International. “New Jersey can basically do it all.”
Meeting hot spots
North Jersey and the Gateway Region have long benefited from their prime location just minutes from New York City, and so has the region’s meetings industry. No less than 45 New Jersey hotels and 24,000 hotel rooms are situated within 15 miles of the city. Plus, the state’s second-largest conference center, the New Jersey Convention & Exposition Center, boasting more than 155,000 square feet of exhibition space, is located in Edison, just minutes from the Big Apple.
“We happen to be in a high-demand location,” says Ronnie Kirschner, president of the board of the Gateway Tourism Council. “When you have a location near a major destination such as New York City, certainly New Jersey reaps the benefit of that.”
But why choose to be near a major metropolitan area, rather than right in it? Kirschner points to New Jersey’s diversity in explaining why so many people pick New Jersey over its more populous neighbor.
“People would select to stay in New Jersey because it’s a very diverse area,” she says. “There’s just so much that New Jersey has to offer.”
Though visitors to North Jersey are just minutes from major metropolitan areas, they are equally close to natural settings such as the Appalachian foothills or the Jersey Shore.
Two of the prime meeting locations in North Jersey, in fact, can be found in just such a natural setting. The Meadowlands Sports & Entertainment Complex, with more than 81,000 square feet of exhibit space, and the Meadowlands Exposition Center, with 61,000 square feet, are located in the heart of a wetlands area that is home to concentrations of federal trust wildlife species.
“We now have fabulous outdoor recreational activities,” such as kayaking and bird-watching, says James Kirkos, CEO of the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Aside from its burgeoning eco-tourism industry, the Meadowlands offers a cluster of top-notch hotels and restaurants, plus event packages featuring sports entertainment from NBA and NFL games to harness racing.
With the massive Xanadu development project now underway and a two-course, 36-hole golf resort by EnCap in the works, the Meadowlands is a secret that is about to become well-know, Kirkos says.
“We want to make sure [the Meadowlands] is no longer a secret,” he says. “It’s time to let the secret out.”
Secret or not, many out-of-state companies looking to take a retreat in New Jersey are really just catching on to what many local companies have known for quite some time. With the headquarters of large pharmaceuticals companies in North Jersey and many corporate headquarters in the central part of the state along the Route 1 corridor from Trenton to Princeton, homegrown companies often find their needs met at a facility right nearby.
And out of all of New Jersey’s in-demand regions, Atlantic City remains one of the most popular spots for convention planners both local and out-of-state. The enormous Convention Center is the crown jewel of the city’s meetings industry, but nearly half of New Jersey’s 20 largest conference centers are located in Atlantic City.
And there’s a good reason why so many groups choose to meet there.
“It’s a destination in itself,” says Elaine Zamansky, of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority. “We’ve got the beach, the boardwalk, the gaming, the round-the-clock entertainment, the shopping – and that makes it attractive.”
In fact, many of the city’s largest meeting spaces can be found in casinos such as the Borgata (75,000 square feet), the Trump Taj Mahal (63,000 square feet), and the Tropicana (47,000 square feet).
Novel places to meet
Aside from the boom in full-blown convention centers and hotel- or casino-based meeting space, parts of New Jersey have begun to tailor some out-of-the-ordinary spots for the meetings industry.
South Jersey, for example, is attempting to develop non-traditional types of meeting sites, according to Kimberly Stever, CEO of the Capitol Region Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We’re breaking away from the tradition of meeting spaces being located just in hotels,” Stever says.
Alternative meeting space options include New Jersey institutions of higher learning such as Burlington County College in Mt. Laurel, which runs an Enterprise Center offering 44,000 square feet of meeting space as well as event-planning and videoconferencing services.
Such institutions are looking to appeal to a broader audience, Stever says.
“The administrations at some of these colleges are reaching out to what is not their traditional audience,” she says. “They’re looking to reach out to the business industry and the tourism industry to fill their down time.”
But colleges aren’t the only ones getting in on the act. Some of South Jersey’s best-known attractions regularly host large groups that are looking to meet in a scenic or unusual location.
Elsewhere in the Delaware River Region, meeting attendees can mingle on 35 acres of beautiful land at the non-profit Grounds For Sculpture, one of the most noted outdoor art museums in the country. More than 200 sculptures dot the landscape, and facilities can hold up to 450 guests.
A little further south, the Camden Waterfront can accommodate groups of up to 3,000 on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey, America’s most decorated battleship. Not impressed yet? Well, how about skipping the hotel and staying overnight onboard the battleship?
But the list of places to hold an unconventional convention doesn’t end with South Jersey. The central and northern parts of the state have their fair share of unique meeting spots.
The quaint Waterloo Village can handle up to 1,000 guests outdoors. Tucked away in the forests of the Skylands Region, the village dates back to the Lenape Native Americans at the turn of the 17th century.
For a completely different experience, The Palace at Somerset Park offers 72,000 square feet of conference and event space in Central Jersey. With the architectural feel of a Neo-Palladian mansion, The Palace has gained a reputation among local meeting planners as an elegant and spacious choice for day conferences.
Want help getting started?
New Jersey’s Office of Travel & Tourism offers assistance for meeting planning at every step of the way, from tracking down the perfect hall to arranging exciting downtime activities.
“If a meeting planner calls us, we can hook them up with tour guides, we can make suggestions for places to go visit, we can contact a motor-coach for them and really get them set up,” says Nancy Byrne, executive director of the Office of Travel & Tourism. “We’re here to help.”
The New Jersey Office of Travel & Tourism can be reached at (609) 777-0885 or online at www.visitnj.org.
Contacts
Atlantic City Convention Center
One Miss America Way
Atlantic City
(888) 222-3683
www.accenter.com
Battleship New Jersey
On the Camden Waterfront off of Delaware Avenue
Camden
(866) 877-6262
www.battleshipnewjersey.org
The Enterprise Center at BCC
3331 Route 38
Mount Laurel
(866) 756-3384
www.enterprisebcc.net
Grounds For Sculpture
18 Fairgrounds Road
Hamilton
(609) 586-0616
www.groundsforsculpture.org
Meadowlands Sports & Entertainment Complex
50 State Route 120
East Rutherford
(201) 460-4296
www.meadowlands.com
The Palace at Somerset Park
333 Davidson Ave.
Somerset
(877) PALACE-4
www.palacesomersetpark.com
Waterloo Village
525 Waterloo Road
Stanhope
(973) 347-0900
Wildwoods Convention Center
4501 Boardwalk
Wildwood
(800) WW-BY-SEA
www.wildwoodsnj.com
New Jersey Office of Travel & Tourism
(609) 777-0885
www.visitnj.org