Thursday, September 21, 2000 Convention and Visitors Bureau   By John W. Cox, Staff writer LONG BEACH Executives from across the city's tourism industry gathered Wednesday to celebrate the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau's success at generating and capitalizing on national attention. At an annual lunch aboard the Queen Mary, Mayor Beverly O'Neill joined bureau board members in thanking CEO Linda Howell DiMario and her staff for bringing the city 1.7 million visitors a year and millions of dollars in tourism-related revenue. "Tomorrow we're going to be the destination in Southern California, and I want to thank all of the people in this room for making that happen," O'Neill told a crowd of at least 200 people. Other speakers praised the bureau's contribution to the city's downtown redevelopment efforts. George Medak, outgoing chairman of the bureau's board of directors, noted the bureau's support for new downtown hotels and other large developments. "We have a lot to celebrate and a lot to be proud of," Medak said. The bureau will be able to do even more good, he said, as soon as more hotels are built to serve the city's growing convention industry. Until then, the bureau's booking activities may be limited by insufficient hotel room capacity. "We can't grow the (booking) numbers much more, given the inventory that we have," Medak said. Incoming board Chairman Chris Pook, founder of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, said the bureau is to be credited for producing tourism revenues of about $12 million a year, about four times the bureau's budget. "If you look at the productivity of this bureau, it is excellent," Pook said. The nonprofit bureau was formed by the City Council in 1982 to promote the city and to help book events and hotel rooms. It receives 77 percent of its $4.5 million budget from a marketing contract with the city. Most of the rest of its money comes from membership dues paid by hotels and other tourism-related businesses. Wednesday's keynote speaker was Peter C. Yesawich, president and CEO of Yesawich, Pepperdine and Brow, a leading marketing and advertising agency serving the tourism industry. In his speech, Yesawich detailed consumer trends he said should cause hotel executives and others to become more flexible to serve more demanding, busier tourists. Prefacing his comments with an observation that "Long Beach is on a roll," Yesawich presented results of a survey his firm conducted earlier this year of 2,500 households nationwide. He said the survey showed that consumers have less time for vacations, and that the Internet gives them more power to negotiate better deals. As a result, he said, travel- and leisure-related companies should offer customers the opportunity to customize their vacations. "One size no longer fits all," Yesawich said. "That is a fundamental tenet of the new economy." Also Wednesday, Howell DiMario introduced incoming members of the bureau's board of directors, who take their positions Oct. 1 with the start of the bureau's fiscal year: Joseph Prevratil, CEO of the company that operates the Queen Mary, was named vice chairman. Cheryl Phelps, vice president and managing director of the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, was named board secretary. Jim Gray, chairman and CEO of Long Beach-based Generations Trust Bank, was named chief financial officer. Rounding out the board's incoming roster are: Terry Antonelli of Del L'Opera Restaurant Group, Kristy Ardizzone of Ardizzone Consulting, Greg Bombard of Catalina Express, Reuben Brasser of Lord Mayor's Inn, Diane Creel of Earth Tech, Tom Deats of West Coast Long Beach Hotel. Others are Ron Hust of Courtyard by Marriott, Larry Jackson of Long Beach Transit, Jack Jones of Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, Medak, Steve Mora of Guest-House Hotel, John Morris of Mum's Restaurant, Duane Neel of the Westin Hotel Long Beach, Joachim Ortmayer of Long Beach Renaissance Hotel. Also, Jay Oxford of Hilton Long Beach, Dennis Patel of Travelodge Convention Center, Hitu Patel of Rodeway Inn, Mitchell Rouse of Taxi Systems, Jerry Slatton of Long Beach Marriott and Carole Spignese of Carole A. Spignese Inc. Incoming ex-officio board members are David Gordon of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, Randy Gordon of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, and City Manager Henry Taboada.