Vancouver has won its bid to host the 2025 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) convention, which is expected to bring 48,000 people from around the world to the city and be the single largest meeting ever held in the city, according to Tourism Vancouver.
The event is expected to contribute $71 million in direct spending to the local economy, according to Jackie Benear, Tourism Vancouver's director of sales for the United States market.
This was Vancouver's third attempt to land an AA convention. The city's tourism officials first bid in 2003 for the 2015 convention and then in 2008 for the 2020 convention.
Al-Anon, which is a support group for friends and families of alcoholics, held its 2013 convention in Vancouver July 5-7, though the event was a much smaller affair with about 4,000 attendees.
The AA meeting will be for people who have had drinking problems themselves.
"People who were part of the AA site-selection committee attended the Al-Anon meeting," Benear told BIV. "They got to experience Vancouver a lot more than the other destinations that wanted to host their convention."
More than a dozen North American cities were invited to bid for the 2025 meeting, including Montreal, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Denver. Vancouver was selected for the quality of its facilities and infrastructure as well as close relationships among the hospitality community and scenic location, according to Benear.
