 |
|
|
Hospitality/Tourism Visitors are drawn to the Birmingham metropolitan area by its medical centers, shopping, sports, growing numbers of tourist attractions, and of course, business. At the end of 2000, the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau reported 130 hotel/motel properties, having 14,000 rooms, of which more than 2,000 have been added in the last two years. The average economy priced room rate is $62.00 per night. Tourism provides some 26,000 jobs, and tourists spend an estimated $920 million in the area annually. A major downtown property, the Redmont Hotel, was recently purchased by Crown Plaza and is undergoing a $7 million renovation and reopened in 1995, and another downtown hotel, the historic Tutwiler Hotel, is undergoing a $2.7 million dollar renovation. The Sheraton Birmingham, connected to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, completed a $9.2 million, 25,000 square feet ballroom in 1998. The four-star Wynfrey Hotel at the Riverchase Galleria added 31,600 square feet of hotel rooms and meeting facilities in late 1999. Several new properties have been developed in recent years, most being small, limited service hotels: Key West Inn (Irondale, 107 rooms), Jameson Inn (Bessemer, 60 rooms and Trussville, 40 rooms), and Comfort Inn Suites (Moody, 45 rooms), Courtyard by Marriott (Colonnade, 122 rooms), LaQuinta (Wildwood and Riverchase, 133 rooms), and Residence Inn (Wildwood, 120 rooms). Regional and national conventions bringing up to 40,000 attendees each time, are hosted by the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, which has recently expanded and connected to the 771 room Sheraton Birmingham, by far the largest hotel in Alabama. The expansion of the complex includes the world's first Medical Forum, a new Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, new meeting rooms and 220,000 square feet of exhibition space. This is in addition to the 19,000-seat coliseum, 3,000-seat concert hall and 1,000 seat theater. A multi-million dollar expansion is on the drawing boards with funding mechanisms still being investigated. Plans call for a new multi-purpose dome stadium and an entertainment district. Visitors from all 50 states and 70 countries have come to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which averages 80,000 visitors a year. In a major city center revitalization project, two former downtown department stores have been renovated into a $50 million interactive science museum, parking and 300-seat IMAX theater. This is the McWane Center. And following a $17 million renovation in the late 1990s, the Birmingham Museum of Art is the largest city-owned art museum in the Southeast. The 54-hole public golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones in the Oxmoor Valley is a magnet for golfing enthusiasts. And on the west side of Jefferson County is Visionland theme park.
|
|
|
