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7 B M & T ••• July/August 2016 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SELECTS CINCINNATI USA FOR 2024 CONFERENCE About Fiji Airways: Founded in 1951, Fiji Airways Group comprises of Fiji Airways, Fiji's National Airline and its subsidiaries: Fiji Link, its domestic and regional car- rier, Pacific Call Comm Ltd, and a 38.75% stake in the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island, Nadi. From its hub at Nadi International Airport, Fiji Airways and Fiji Link serve 49 destinations in 13 countries (including code-share). Destinations include Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. Fiji Airways rebranded from Air Pacific in June 2013. Visit www.fijiairways.com for more information. With More Than 20,000 in Attendance, Event is One of Largest Religious and African American Conventions Ever Booked in Cincinnati The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church – the largest Black Methodist denomination in America – has select- ed Cincinnati USA for its 2024 General Conference. Held every four years, the event is expected to draw approximately 20,000 attendees using more than 27,000 hotel room nights and delivering more than $8 million in visitor spending to the region. This represents the largest African-American and religious convention booked in Cincinnati in the past decade. Planned for July 3-10, the 2024 event will convene primarily in the Duke Energy Convention Center. Attendees will uti- lize many hotels across the region, including downtown's Hilton Netherland Plaza, Hyatt Regency, Millennium, as well as Northern Kentucky's Embassy Riverfront, Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter and Radisson. "A decade ago, we made the religious and multicultural meetings market a top priority for Cincinnati USA, and that strat- egy continues to bring great benefits to Cincinnati," said Dan Lincoln, president and CEO of the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau. "The AME is one of the most influential and venerated religious organizations in the world, and their choice of Cincinnati for their 2024 emphasizes our strength in this meetings market." In the final review, Cincinnati was selected over Nashville, home to AME's headquarters. With the win, the Cincinnati USA CVB has now hosted or booked 16 of the top 25 multicultural conventions in the country, including the National Urban League (2014), Sigma Pi Phi (2018), the National Baptist Convention (2008, 2017) and the NAACP (2008 and this summer, 2016). Cincinnati last hosted the AME General Conference in 2000. "Cincinnati's rich religious traditions and history within the AME Church, combined with the region's strength as a host for large religious meetings made it an excellent choice for our 2024 Conference," said Dr. Richard Allen Lewis, Treasurer/CFO for the AME Church. "The mix of restaurants, hotels, and meeting facilities, as well as the region's diverse and inclusive business environment, promise to bring our attendees a great experience and provide an ideal backdrop for moving our mission forward." The size and influential nature of the convention is expected to attract high-profile faith-based and civic leaders, as well as entertainers from across the country, to engage with the 20,000 attendees from around the country. "As the home to Allen Temple AME, one of the oldest AME churches west of the Alleghenies, Cincinnati is a natural fit for this prestigious national con- vention," said Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. "We are a diverse city in race, religion, and ideology, and events like the AME continue to showcase our community's culture and heritage to the nation." Three local AME leaders played an integral role in securing the bid for Cincinnati: Reverend Frederick A. Wright, Sr., D.Min. of the Quinn Chapel AME Church, Reverend Alphonse Allen, D.Min. of the Allen Temple AME, and Bishop McKinley Young of the Third District AME. DAN LINCOLN Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF), Puerto Rico. www.chtachief.com October 1 African-American Tourism Conference, Beatty Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. scurbaneconom- ics.com October 1-3 Student Sales & Marketing Conference, JW Marriott Hotel, Atlanta, GA. www.salesnet-work.org October 2-5 Fall Travel Agent Forum, Hyatt Regency Miami, Miami, FL. https://mail.aol.com/webmail-std/en-us/suite October 8 Southern California Black Business Expo on Tour 2015-2016, Radisson Hotel – Ontario Airport, Ontario, CA. www.scbbe.-com/expo-on-tour October 9-11 2016 ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference, Association of National Advertisers, Los Angeles, CA. https://www.ana.net/conference/show/id/M CC-NOV16 October 10-11 2016 National Diversity Women's Business Leadership Conference, Hyatt Regency, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD. diversitywoman.com October 25-26, 5th Annual Multicultural Health National Conference, DTC Perspectives, Philadelphia, PA. http://dtcper- spectives.com/mchn/ or (770) 559-0702 November 16-20 It's Nation Time… Again, State of the Black World Conference IV, Howard University, Newark, NJ. http://ibw21.org/sobwc-iv-goals-pre-register/ May 8-12 2017 Humane Society of the U.S. Animal Care Expo, Ocean Center and the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort, Daytona Beach, FL. www.DaytonaBeachMeetings.com 2017 Continued from page 5