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eTourism News

February 2007, Volume III Number I

Contents

EXECUTIVE MESSAGE
THE NUMBERS ARE IN
HOT OFF THE PRESS
ACCOLADES, HONORS AND AWARDS, OH MY!
ACCORDING TO THE PRESS
2007 OFF TO A GOOD START
PHILLY'S GOING GOLDEN
TODAY'S SPECIAL: BYOBs
TAKING PHILLY MESSAGE DIRECTLY TO THE MEDIA
PHILLY WELCOMES OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORS
JUST CALL US "PHILLYWOOD"
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SAVE THE DATE

RiverRink at Penn's Landing
G. Widman for GPTMC

1. EXECUTIVE MESSAGE

   From left to right, top to bottom:
   David Benton, Nelson A. Diaz,
   Hugh C. Long, Marsha R. Perelman

With the new year, GPTMC welcomed four new Philadelphians to our Board of Directors:

David Benton, vice president and general manager, The Rittenhouse Hotel and Condominium Residences
Nelson A. Diaz, partner, Blank Rome LLP
Hugh C. Long, CEO, MidAtlantic Banking Group, Wachovia Bank
Marsha R. Perelman, president, Woodforde Energy, Inc.

David, Nelson, Hugh and Marsha, we’re happy to have you on our team, and we look forward to working with you to promote our great city and region.

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2. THE NUMBERS ARE IN

GPTMC enlisted Global Insight to calculate the economic impact of the tourism industry in the five-county region for 2005. For the first time, GPTMC presents an economic impact figure that combines what visitors spend and how many of their dollars stay in our regional economy. Leisure tourism accounted for 60% of the total economic impact of tourism in 2005, up from 56% in 2003 and 59% in 2004.

Tourism Economic Impact in the Five-county Region $ in BILLIONS, jobs in units
Category		2005	2004	2003
Economic Impact		$10.08	$9.66	$8.99
	Direct Visitor Spending	$5.79	$5.58	$5.20
	Indirect Spending	$1.91	$1.81	$1.68
	Induced Spending	$2.38	$2.28	$2.12
Jobs Supported		126,986	123,742	117,562
Wages Generated		$3.82	$3.65	$3.39
Federal, State and Local Taxes		$1.38	$1.35	$1.29

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3. HOT OFF THE PRESS

2006 Greater Philadelphia Tourism Monitor

GPTMC just released two reports summarizing its latest research. Entitled "Branding Builds Business," the 2006 Greater Philadelphia Tourism Monitor tracks the economic and quality-of-life impacts of promoting the Philadelphia brand. Accompanying the Monitor, the small-in-size-but-large-in-impact Facts at Your Fingertips includes both visitor volume and economic impact statistics for 2005, hotel facts and figures and a revised hotel market mix for Center City 2005. You can download the Monitor at www.gophila.com/research, or call Ethan Conner-Ross at (215) 599-2297 for copies of both pieces.

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4. ACCOLADES, HONORS AND AWARDS, OH MY!

National and regional organizations recognized GPTMC’s work on various marketing campaigns, collateral materials and Web site enhancements. Here’s a look at our banner 10th anniversary year: :

TIA Odyssey Awards:

Domestic SeeAmerica Marketing award for Philadelphia - Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay® campaign
Publicity and Promotion award for Philly's Got BENergy!™
Tourism Economic Awareness award for The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Monitor

HSMAI Adrian Awards:

Gold award for Philly: The Musical campaign
Gold award for gophila.com/pressroom
Silver award for Tourism 2006: A Report to the Industry

PRSA Pepperpot Awards:

Pepperpot (first place) for Philly's Got BENergy!™ campaign
Ladle (second place) for Tourism 2006: A Report to the Industry

Davey Awards:

Given to the Osiris Group for the redesign of gophila.com

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5. ACCORDING TO THE PRESS

The New York Times
"Add an infusion of ethnic and regional cuisine, a strong arts and music scene, and still-affordable prices, and you begin to understand why tourism is up in the City of Brotherly Love." - The New York Times (1,682,644 circulation), November 26, 2006
"Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, and neighborhood bars. With a condo boom and a growing hipster population, Center City and many adjacent areas have been transformed by trendy tapas joints, indie music hangouts, gastropubs and martini bars." - Washington Post (656,297 circulation), December 20, 2006
"Now that Williamsburg, Brooklyn's oft-hated haven of hip, is home to glass-front condos and investment bankers, what to do, young T-shirt designer, what to do? Maybe you should move to Philly...So many people from New York and beyond are showing up to see that all the fuss is about, in fact, that there's a Web site to lure them here for good: movetophilly.com." - NYLON Magazine (236,255 circulation), November 2006
"But in Rocky Balboa, many of those sagging row-house neighborhoods have been renewed through the efforts of former mayor (now governor) Ed Rendell and current Mayor John Street. Where visitors once saw rubble and boarded up houses in 1976, today there are artist studios, galleries and restaurants. There's a glittering new skyline (shown to nice effect in Rocky Balboa) that includes the Cira Centre, which resembles a huge laser-cut diamond next to Amtrak's 30th Street Station." - Toronto Globe and Mail (409,399 circulation), December 16, 2006
"These days, locals are embracing laid-back, inexpensive, family-run restaurants that boast a bring-your-own-bottle policy. The city [Philadelphia] didn't invent the BYOB trend, but it has perfected it. To wit: The Philadelphia edition of Zagat Survey was the first to contain a separate listing for 'bring-your-own' establishments." - Report on Business (part of Globe & Mail, 300,000 circulation), December 2006
"Remember fun?! It skipped over LA and New York and landed where you'd never expect it-Philly." - Anthem Magazine (70,000 circulation), November/December 2006
"The name sounds like something you'd text message a friend in a hurry: Uwishunu. As in things you wish you knew about Philadelphia. It's a marketing plan that the city is pumping $5 million into over the next two years to attract young tourists from around the world." - Metro Philadelphia (136,957 circulation), January 5, 2007
"It's amazing what a little time, money and material will do. The city tourism bureau has produced an absorbing podcast called Philly Noir..." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (330,622 circulation), January 24, 2007
"BYOB takes on new cachet in Greater Philadelphia, where more than 200 bring-your-own-bottle restaurants have emerged—and the scene includes trendy bistros, funky casual spots and ethnic eateries encompassing cuisines from Afghani to Vietnamese." - Skylights Magazine (933,000 circulation), January-February 2007
"GoPhila.com just launched a BYO Google Map for Philly restaurants. Ho-hum news if a) it weren't very well done and b) didn't include the nearest liquor store listings as well, an element too often missing in these BYO mashups." - Gridskipper.com (470,500 circulation), November 2, 2006

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6. 2007 OFF TO A GOOD START

Uwishunu™ press conference
M. Kennedy for GPTMC

For GPTMC, 2007 began on January 5, with a major media event and a UwishunuYear party at The F.U.E.L. Collection to kickoff uwishunu™, a new campaign to promote Philly through the power of new media and Web 2.0. More than 1,300 enthusiastic Philadelphians celebrated the First Friday launch, blogged at uwishunu.com and danced to the beats of a four-DJ line-up.

Funded by the City of Philadelphia, the innovative initiative aims to attract new visitors by showing off the city as a hip, urban destination. GPTMC has completed work on the first phase of the effort, which includes a collaborative blog, uwishunu.com, where in-the-know Philadelphians are invited to share their insider knowledge of the city with the world. In addition, GPTMC is developing a collection of experiential travel and hotel experiences designed to appeal to the uwishunu™ traveler.

uwishunu.com will be promoted through consumer-generated online media, online ads and cell phone technology, including text messaging and wireless applications, and through traditional advertising vehicles. The PCVB will promote the initiative through online, print and buzz marketing in Philadelphia's key international markets throughout Western Europe.

To spread the word about your favorite Philly secrets, blog with us at uwishunu.com.

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7. PHILLY’S GOING GOLDEN

Tut Banner at Madison Square Garden

Marketing King Tut's Philadelphia run has been a focus at GPTMC for nearly a year, and now things are really going golden. In December, the Boy King reigned in New York thanks to a 100-foot banner at Madison Square Garden. In January, the first wave of stories hit magazines. And, in February, the golden boy will hold court on gophila.com, where 100 different "Go Golden" deals and special offers created by local businesses will be listed.

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8. TODAY’S SPECIAL: BYOBs

Mercato restaurant
G. Widman for GPTMC

Zagat Survey® says: "Philadelphia's home to one of the most active bring-your-own scenes in the United States..." To capitalize on Philly's reputation as the BYOB capital of the nation, GPTMC launched a new tourism marketing effort in November 2006 called Philadelphia - The Place To B.Y.O.Be. With this push, GPTMC aims to encourage visitors to try a series of BYOBs and spend a few nights in area hotels. As part of the campaign, gophila.com hosts a dynamic BYOB restaurant map featuring more than 130 restaurants, which can be sorted and viewed by cuisine and neighborhood. In addition, the map also displays the nearest Wine & Spirits Store location for each restaurant.

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9. TAKING PHILLY MESSAGE DIRECTLY TO THE MEDIA

Philadelphia continues to build buzz among the travel media by hosting evenlunchts in key media centers. These gatherings give us two hours to sell the Philadelphia story to our top travel and lifestyle press. Since November 29, we've done two lunches and four receptions for more then 220 journalists in Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C. and Toronto. Tut is the biggest news for these crowds, but our message always focuses on all of the reasons to spend a couple of nights in Philadelphia.

10. PHILLY WELCOMES OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORS

The Society of American Travel Writers' (SATW) Canadian chapter meeting has selected Philadelphia as the site of its next chapter meeting, taking place in July 2007. This prestigious organization of travel writers and public relations professionals has five chapters in North America, and GPTMC has already hosted three of them. This fourth meeting of the Canadian group is particularly important as GPTMC continues to expand its reach up north.

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11. JUST CALL US "PHILLYWOOD"

Philly's a moviemaker's kind of town, and that's according to MovieMaker Magazine. The trade publication's winter edition ranks the city number two (up from five in 2006) on their list of "Top 10 Movie Cities" for 2007. Philadelphia came out ahead of longtime production hotspots, including Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida. That's a wrap!

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12. COMING ATTRACTIONS

The Philadelphia Flower Show
R. Kennedy for GPTMC
Through February 24, 2007: Porgy and Bess, Academy of Music. (215) 732-8400, www.operaphilly.com
Through March 4, 2007: Tuesdays with Morrie, People's Light & Theat