Alliances in the convention industry are created in order to benefit its group members. Knowing
the goals of the alliance are ‘in sync’ with the individual member’s expectations is fruitful for an effective
partnership. This research investigated two alliances, Best Cities Global Alliance (BCGA), an older and
more established alliance, and Future Convention Cities Initiative (FCCI), a newly established alliance, to
determine how their members’ goals compare to the alliances’ stated goals. Four areas investigated
were: research aim, customer attendance, membership concern, and local area benefit. All fifteen city
representatives in the two alliances, as well as the two executive directors, were surveyed. Wang and
Xiang’s (2007) theoretical framework on Collaborative Destination Marketing is used as a guide. FCCI,
being in the beginning stage of this theoretical framework, showed highest frequency in ‘local area
benefits’; BCGA, in the evaluation stage of the framework, had highest frequency for ‘customer
attendance.’