Rotary International plans '11 meet in Salt Lake

Rotary International confirmed Tuesday it has tentatively agreed to hold its massive annual convention in Salt Lake City in 2011, which could bring 31,000 delegates with $27 million in spending power to the city.

Salt Lake Rotary Club governor-nominee Eugene Banks congratulated the local chapter Tuesday, proclaiming, "You did it."

"This afternoon, I'm very pleased to announce that the board of Rotary International has tentatively selected Salt Lake as the site for the 2011 convention," Banks said. "The board's decision will bring more than 31,000 Rotarians, plus their spouses and guests, to Utah. The Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates that this single group will generate more than $27 million in Salt Lake's economy in direct visitor spending. It will also be the largest event Salt Lake has hosted since the Olympics."

The deal is contingent on the completion of the Salt Palace convention center expansion, assurances of adequate accommodations, promotional assistance from the state and other conditions, Banks said.

Salt Lake City was one of five finalists competing for the 2011 convention, said Dianne Binger, president of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. The other finalists were Denver, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Cairo, Egypt.

"We are so excited to be able to host this convention," Binger told Rotarians. "Every day, the Convention & Visitors Bureau works very hard to convince groups like Rotary to meet in Salt Lake. We talk to convention groups large and small. We've never convinced a group of this size to meet in Salt Lake."

The Rotary organization, which is now in 166 countries, considers an array of sites for its annual convention, according to Wayne Hearn, a Rotary spokesman in Evanston, Ill.

"We consider a wide range of locales and try to get a good distribution," Hearn said. "There's a process by which these sites are vetted. They do a pretty exhaustive evaluation of potential sites."

Recent Rotary conventions were held in Osaka, Japan; Brisbane, Australia; and Barcelona, Spain. The 2005 convention, which will celebrate Rotary International's centennial, will be held in Chicago, the city where the organization was founded.

Estimated at $27 million, the economic benefit of bringing the Rotary convention to Salt Lake City equals that of two Outdoor Retailer trade shows, said Binger. And though Outdoor Retailer was often cited as the impetus behind the expansion of the Salt Palace, it wasn't the only reason, she said.