From the President
By Mohammad Jenatian

Arena and CIAA Tournament Continue Creating Thousands of Jobs

If you consider creating jobs and providing our local businesses and workforce with opportunities to help themselves a worthy cause, then you value and appreciate the Charlotte hotel industry's investment in Time Warner Cable Arena. This investment is paying huge dividends for the region's hospitality industry, our overall economy and our entire community.

With the exception of about $20 million of city funds which were generated from the sale of the old Charlotte Coliseum, the arena's nearly $200 million cost of construction was financed through the first 3% hotel tax and a small portion of car rental taxes in Charlotte.

From the beginning of its controversial construction, the arena has served as a development catalyst not only for the hospitality industry, but for practically the majority of developments that have made the Center City one of the most vibrant downtowns in the country today.

For those of us in the hospitality industry that championed the cause of building the new arena through our hospitality taxes, we wanted our city to have a suitable venue to accommodate major tourism related events that attract thousands of visitors to our region. Having visited most of the new arenas in the county before building ours, I personally realized the overall impact of the venue for our community as a major amenity and centerpiece to adjacent developments.

As it relates to the industry's return on the investment, one single event is sufficient example of why we led the efforts to make the arena possible. That event is the CIAA Tournament which has been attracting more than 180,000 people for a basketball tournament and surrounding events for the 13 universities in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

This event, which has been held in Charlotte in late February since 2006, has been a tremendous boost to our economy as its economic impact during the past two years has exceeded $37 million. At a time when the economy has struggled and jobs have been scarce, this tournament has drastically helped our businesses survive and has been responsible for thousands of jobs and millions in paychecks.

The CIAA Tournament has been great for Charlotte and it would not be here without the new arena. Charlotte and everything that it has to offer has also been a great partner for the CIAA as they have teamed up to put on one of the best tournaments in the country.

Hosting the CIAA Tournament for the past five years has been a pleasure for Charlotte – our hospitality community has gone out of its way to make sure visiting fans love Charlotte. Congratulations on a job well done as the CIAA leaders unanimously voted recently to extend the contract that will keep the tournament in Charlotte through 2014. The 2011 tournament is scheduled for February 28 - March 5, 2011 at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Leon Kerry, Commissioner of the CIAA has stated that fans love Charlotte and everything that it has to offer; Commissioner, we thank you and your fans for your part in providing our local employees with millions in paychecks.

I am proud of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance's leading role in building the arena and other major tourism related facilities that have made Charlotte a great tournament, convention and travel destination. As a membership organization solely supported by its members, none of our many accomplishments would have been possible without the support and involvement of our wonderful members. I thank you for giving us the pleasure of serving your business.

I wish you and yours a happy, healthy and wonderful holiday season.

Charlotte’s New Aviation Museum Deserves Plane from Legendary Flight

By: Mohammad Jenatian, HTA

After a safe and miraculous emergency landing in the Hudson River, US Airways Flight 1549 may finally be on its way towards its intended destination of Charlotte.

You may remember the day in January 2009 when this amazing landing captured the attention of people around the globe and worldwide media coverage, particularly due to the fact that all passengers aboard the flight departing from New York to Charlotte survived and were safely rescued from the Hudson River.

The remarkable landing, better known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” pilot of the plane Captain Sully, who has become a national hero, and survivors who the majority of them live and work in Charlotte, have constantly been receiving media coverage due to the unbelievable nature of the landing and the near-death experience of survivors.

This event is a memorable one that will have historical significance for many years to come and even bigger inspirational messages to be told by survivors.

While the incident has been going through required investigations, the aircraft is now owned by an insurance company, is being stored in the New York area, and has recently been put on the auction block pending a finalized investigation.

This aircraft, with its huge popularity, is a tremendous tourism magnet waiting to happen and I have had the pleasure of working with the leadership of the Carolinas Aviation Museum to give Charlotte the opportunity of bringing Flight 1549 here. There have been numerous other cities and museums that are interested in capturing this treasure, but, as was with the case of the NASCAR Hall of Fame belonging to Charlotte, we have been relentless in working towards bringing the aircraft as a magnificent exhibit to Charlotte, which is where it was supposed to go.

Timing could not be more perfect for Charlotte to be the home for exhibiting the miraculous Flight 1549 due to the fact that we, as an organization (Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance), have also been working with our aviation museum towards expansion of their facilities and are proud to let you know that Charlotte is about ready to have a major aviation museum. It will be ready to open by July. Our existing Carolinas Aviation Museum (www.carolinasaviation.org), which was founded in 1992, has been displaying a collection of more than 50 historic aircrafts such as B-175, B-245, B-29, and many other historic items related to aviation in North and South Carolina, a flying Piedmont Airline DC3, and the best site to watch planes land and take off.

While the museum, which is located on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport (off Morris Field Drive), has been a nice visitors destination, it is not large and efficient enough to accommodate new aircrafts and exhibits to make it a major aviation museum. Well, that is about to change rapidly as the process has already begun to move the entire museum contents and operation to a great new neighboring location on the airport grounds with two indoor hangers totaling more than 50,000 square feet in space.

Stay tuned and get ready to be amazed with this new museum, which could perfectly accommodate Flight 1549 as an exhibit and should be its home. We’re working tirelessly to make that happen and I ask you to please contact me (mjenatian@charlottehta.com) if you need more information or would like to be involved with this exciting development.

Stewart & Conners Architects, PLLC - 3731 Latrobe Drive, Ste 100, Charlotte, 28211. Stewart & Conners Architects, PLLC is an experienced, idea-driven planning & design firm dedicated to the creation of projects that respond to our clients values, while engaging with the surrounding environment. The driving force of our firm is to create value for our clients through creativity and great service. For more information, please contact Dana Conners at 704-365-3941 or dconners@sc-architects.com

Universal Cab Company, Inc. - 2917 Rozzelles Ferry Road , Charlotte, 28208. U come first, our slogan and approach since 1992. Providing courteous and timely service has always been our goal as we value and appreciate our customers, both current and future. So just look for our beautiful blue on blue cabs the next time you are out and about in our beautiful city. For more information, please contact Virginia Abid at 704-333-5555 or universaltaxicab@aol.com

Waste Connections, Inc. - 5516 Rozzelles Ferry Road, Charlotte, 28214. Waste Connections, Inc. provides solid waste, recycling, and construction waste services for commercial businesses. We provide our customers the best possible service in a courteous, effective manner, showing respect for those we are fortunate to serve. We will come out for an on-site waste audit to help better service your account from the start, give us a call! We look forward to meeting you!! For more information, please contact Mary Herold at 704-398-4488 or 704-315-4111 or email maryh@wasteconnections.com

Charlotte Arrangements - 2315 North Davidson Street, Charlotte, 28205. Charlotte Arrangements, a Clarke Allen Company, is a full-service, event production and destination management company. With the most comprehensive in-house services for events, transportation, tours, meetings and team building programs our dedicated, professional staff provides you with a one-stop place for all your companies needs. In addition, the Clarke Allen Group is the proud owner of Center Stage @ NoDa, a 10,000 sq. ft. venue for private and invitation only events. For more information please contact Leslie Palmer @ (704) 547-1223 or email info@charlottearrangements.com

Courtyard Charlotte Center City - 237 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, 28202. With attractive and comfortable guest room accommodations, the Courtyard by Marriott Charlotte Center City hotel is sure to meet your needs. Located in the heart of Charlotte's uptown financial and entertainment district, out Charlotte hotel is perfect both business and leisure travel. Located just blocks from the Charlotte Convention Center, NASCAR Hall of Fame, EpiCentre, Bechtler Museum of Art, Harvey Gantt Center, Time Warner Cable Arena and a short walk to Bank of America Stadium. With over 2400 square feet of versatile event space and complimentary wireless internet access, this Charlotte meeting hotel creates the perfect setting for successful business engagements and memorable social gatherings. Stay with us and experience the finest among uptown Charlotte hotels. For more information please contact Sherry McWherter @ (704) 926-5800 or visit our website www.marriott.com/cltup.

DC POS Systems, Inc. - 10800 Independence Pointe Parkway, Ste C, Matthews, 28105. We are an innovative computer service and supplier company. We supply and support security, Google Advertising, and point-of-sale systems to retail and hospitality businesses. Our technical engineers provide 24/7 monitoring services. Our web designers can create an internet identity to support your business. Our computer services range from technical for corporate and residential clients. For more information please contact Jason Tari @ (704) 847-0280 or email sales@dcpossystems.com

The Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance Mission Statement

The Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance (HTA) is a full time association representing more than 800 businesses in the greater Charlotte area. The organization was established in October 1994 by the leaders of different segments of the hospitality industry. This combined organization was created to respond to the need for a full time and privately funded organization which was required to represent this growing industry with a commitment to proactively influence decisions, eliminating industry related challenges and maximizing opportunities for our remarkable industry.

The industry currently generates nearly $3 billion in annual revenues and employs more than 60,000 people in Mecklenburg County. As a membership organization, our main objective is to accommodate various needs of our diverse membership. With that in mind, our primary focus is centered on efforts which will increase the bottom lines of our members’ businesses.

The Board of Directors of the HTA invites you to join us and become part of a winning team dedicated to pursuing excellence for our businesses and our community.