Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/34521
plete. The transportation hub will eventually link Miami International Airport, Amtrak, Metrorail, rental car companies and other transportation providers. The Miami Beach Convention Center, located in the historic Art Deco District, contains more than 500,000 sq. ft. of divisible exhibit space in a prime location near the beach. The Miami Convention Center, which can accommodate groups of up to 5,000, is planning a major renovation and expansion. There are nearly 50,000 hotel rooms in the GreaterMiami area. ORLANDO According to Metropoll XIII, both corpo- rate and association meeting planners said that out of 40 cities, Orlando is their top choice for a major convention, trade show, conference or seminar based on factors including quality of hotel and meeting facilities and overall value, amongst others. Both planners and attendees won’t find any Downtown Orlando unpleasant surprises on their final bill: a recent study by the National Business Travel Association ranks Orlando as the sixth cheap- est destination when it comes to discriminato- ry travel taxes and fees imposed on visitors, which include taxes charged on rental cars, hotels, meals and other travel-related services. Orlando’s Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks also make it one of the nation’s top destinations for family travel, but there are also plenty of adult diversions. Walt Disney World Resort announced in 2010 the transformation of Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney into “Hyperion Wharf,” a modern take on an early 20th century port city and amusement pier. The port district will feature styl- ish boutiques, innovative restaurants, a relaxing lakeside park with enhanced pedestrian walkways, and thousands of lights illuminating the night. The project is expected to take three years. The grownups can even indulge their racecar driving fan- tasies via the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway. Orlando’s top theme parks also contain major meeting venues. Disney World offers a combined 600,000 sq. ft. of meet- ing space, and there is 133,000 sq. ft. of space available at the Universal Orlando Resort. The 7 million-sq. ft. Orange County Convention Center is the second largest convention center in the United States, with.1 million sq. ft. of exhibit space, two 92,000-sq. ft. general assembly areas, 74 meeting rooms, a 160-seat lecture hall and a 62,000-sq. ft. multi-purpose room. The Convention Center District surrounding the Orange County Convention Center has become more pedestrian friendly with the debut of a new covered, raised walkway extending from the 1,334-room Rosen Centre hotel to the OCCC’s west building. The bridge crosses over busy Convention Way and was completed in February 2011. Plans to add another skywalk directly connecting the Peabody Orlando to the OCCC’s west building are also currently underway. Area conference hotels offer another 3.1 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Nearly 450 area hotels pro- vide a combined total of nearly 116,000 guestrooms, with more than 7,600 of them within walking distance of the conven- tion center. One of the city’s most notable Black heritage attractions is the Wells’ Built Museum of African-American History, at the site of a hotel that lodged many famous African-American musicians during the 1920s. The Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, named for the Harlem Renaissance writer and folklorist, is located in her nearby hometown of Eatonville, the nation’s oldest African-American municipality. The arts are also the focus at attractions like the Pointe Performing Arts Center, the Mennello Museum of American Art and the Orlando Arts Fest in February, which showcases 220 events at 81 area venues. Kids will enjoy an outing at the Orlando Science Center, Busch Gardens Africa, Gatorland or SeaWorld, where a new simulation ride called Manta will give them a taste of how it feels to be a stingray. PENSACOLA Springtime is festival time in this Gulf Coast city, with March bringing the celebration known as Smokin’ in the Square to Seville Square and the Reggae Festival coming to the Seville Quarter inApril. In the fall, the city hosts the Jamaican Fest in September and theGreatGulfcoastArts Festival in November. 38 Black Meetings & Tourism May/June 2011: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com Photo Credit: Orlando CVB