Other Cities Visit Pittsburgh Thanks to G20

The Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce says it is hosting an unprecedented number of visits from other Chambers of Commerce in 2010. Chamber President Barbara McNees says it can be traced back to the exposure the city received during the G20 summit. McNees says, “No fewer than seven Chambers of Commerce from across the United States have scheduled benchmarking visits to Pittsburgh this year.” Among the cities visiting is Cincinnati OH and Baton Rouge LA. Advance teams from both of those cities are in town this week laying the groundwork for later visits. Delegations from Korea and Toronto Canada have also made trips as they prepare to host G20 events later this year. McNees says groups have often visited Pittsburgh in the past but they usually were exploring one aspect of the city such as brownfield redevelopment or cooperation with universities but now they want to look at the entire revitalization package. McNees says the heads of the chambers that are coming this year specifically mentioned the G20 as one of their reasons why Pittsburgh was selected. The Executive Directors of several of the chambers coming later this year were in town last summer for a Chamber of Commerce conference where they got their first look at the city. McNees says the G20 just sealed the deal. Also visiting this year will be: Kansas City MO, Nashville TN, Lexington and Louisville KY, Dubuque IA and Mobile AL. McNees says the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber is looking for other ways to capitalize on the publicity and interest generated by the G20 Pittsburgh Summit.