Thursday, February 6, 2025
Home Northeast NE People CVB Spotlight: Generating City and World Wide Partnerships

CVB Spotlight: Generating City and World Wide Partnerships

By Michael Jolivette

Connecticut’s Southern New England geographic location and compact size are widely perceived as valuable assets for groups looking for travel, meetings and off-site experiences. As the state’s official meetings and sports event sales and marketing organization, the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB) helps to market the convention and transportation venues, hotels, bed and breakfasts and more in cities like New Haven, Stamford and Westport to planners and sports promoters around the world.  

“We work with meeting planners to generate business for venues all across Connecticut, including the Connecticut Convention Center,” says H. Scott Phelps, the organization’s president. “What makes us different is that we are statewide,” adds Phelps. “I look at us as an economic development agency bringing in dollars from elsewhere and using them here.”

“We generated over 4.3 million dollars in Connecticut taxes for the population we serviced last year, in part, because we found out international visitors stay longer in our cities and spend more money,” says Phelps. 

Working in partnership with the state’s businesses, institutions, nonprofits and their surrounding communities, CTCSB represents the state as a versatile destination for regional, national and international events. “We have a very successful board of directors that open doors for us in the corporate community to help our sales team reach the people they need to reach,” said Phelps. “We have to find the ones who believe in Connecticut, and Laura does a great job of publicizing these individuals, so they get the recognition they deserve.” 

RECENT POSTS