Fact Sheet

Critical Dates In Philadelphia's Tourism Timeline
Philadelphia’s Major Tourism Milestones Beginning In 1985

PHILADELPHIA, November 2005 - The Philadelphia region has received much praise over the years. In October 2005, Philadelphia was named “Next Great City” by National Geographic Traveler magazine. The accolades are the result of years of dedication and hard work by everyone in the region. Here’s a look at some of the milestones that have grabbed the media’s attention over the years:

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC

Mid-1980s

• In 1985, The Foundation for Architecture begins its guided architectural tour program.
• The Book and the Cook event begins its annual celebration of the city’s gastronomic diversity.
• The Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing opens Memorial Day Weekend in 1986 with the first annual Jambalaya Jam.
• In 1987, the Multicultural Affairs Congress is instituted by the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau to promote African American conventions and tourism.
• Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority is created in 1987 to develop a convention center in Philadelphia; that same year Marriott commits to building a 1,200-room convention hotel, adjacent to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
• In 1987, the 61-story Liberty Place office and retail complex opens in Center City, breaking the 100-year-old agreement limiting buildings in Center City to the height of the William Penn statue atop City Hall.
• “We the People,” a celebration of the 200th birthday of the U.S. Constitution, culminates on September 17, 1987 (Constitution Day) with the permanent lighting of the Ben Franklin Bridge.
• In 1989, the first Philadelphia Liberty Medal is awarded to Solidarity founder and President of Poland, Lech Walesa.

1991

• An annual New Year’s Eve celebration begins with fireworks at Penn’s Landing.
• Old City Arts starts First Friday, the art community’s open house taking place each month.
• Center City District sidewalk sweepers and community service representatives are deployed on the streets of Center City.

1992

• Edward G. Rendell begins his first term as Mayor of Philadelphia.
• First annual Yo! Philadelphia Labor Day Weekend Celebration, with music, dance and crafts takes place on the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing.
• The New Jersey State Aquarium opens in Camden.

1993

• Pennsylvania Convention Center opens to great acclaim, spurring new development and increased visitation.
• An annual festival, Welcome America!, is created to celebrate America’s birthday in its birthplace.
• Penn’s Landing’s waterfront shuttle system debuts.
• Avenue of the Arts is commissioned to promote South Broad Street as the city’s performing arts hub for theater, music, dance, performing arts and higher education.

1994

• Tom Ridge is elected Governor of Pennsylvania.
• The restored and redesigned Reading Terminal Train Shed opens as an important part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The restoration of the Reading Terminal Market is also completed.
• Historic Philadelphia Inc. is founded to bring history to life in Independence National Historical Park.
• RiverRink opens at Penn’s Landing on the Philadelphia side of the Delaware River.
• After receiving five nominations, the film Philadelphia goes on to win two Oscars.
• The Philadelphia Flower Show, the oldest show of its kind in the country, moves to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, increasing the tourism "ripple effect" in the city.

• New hotels open: 1,200-room Philadelphia Marriott adjacent to the Pennsylvania Convention Center; 419-room Philadelphia Airport Marriott Hotel; 330-room Airport Hilton after a $3 million renovation.
• Philadelphia’s Clef Club of the Performing Arts, the oldest African American musicians’ organization and performance space, moves to a new location on the Avenue of the Arts.
• Center City District initiates routine graffiti removal program in Center City.
• The Independence Seaport Museum opens on Penn’s Landing, focusing on the region’s rich maritime history.
• The extraordinary, impressionist collection of The Barnes Foundation tours the world for the first time.

1996

• Edward G. Rendell begins his second term as Mayor of Philadelphia.
• Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is founded by the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pew Charitable Trusts, as a public-private partnership to market the five-county region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties).
• The blockbuster Cezanne exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art attracts a record 548,741 visitors. Philadelphia also hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, resulting in the busiest summer to date.
• Hotel occupancy increases overall this year, despite a 20% increase in room supply with the opening of the 1,200-room Philadelphia Marriott.
• The PHLASH—Downtown Tourist Loop begins service. The bright purple buses offer a comfortable, safe and convenient way to ride to attractions, restaurants, hotels and the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
• Center City District’s $26 million streetscape improvement program installs 1,000 pedestrian light fixtures, 400 new trees and Walk! Philadelphia directional signage.
• King of Prussia Mall completes a five-year, $185 million redevelopment and expansion, making it the largest mall on the East Coast.
• The 300-seat Wilma Theater opens its new facility on the Avenue of the Arts.
• The Avenue of the Arts completes a $15 million streetscape with patterned granite sidewalk slabs, old-fashioned street lamps, landscaping and granite curbs.
• Freedom Theatre finishes a $10 million renovation resulting in a new 300-seat theater, modern classrooms and offices, housing for visiting artists and a design studio.
• The 25,000-seat Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Center, currently known as the Tweeter Center, opens across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey.

1997

• GPTMC launches the region’s first advertising campaign, "This Is My Philadelphia."Tourism increases 7%, with the campaign generating 1.133 million trips to the Philadelphia area and total expenditures approaching $100 million; Philadelphia five-county region becomes "The Place that LOVES YOU BACK."
• The 14,000-sq.-ft. Hard Rock Café opens underneath the Pennsylvania Convention Center’s Grand Hall in the historic Reading Terminal Headhouse.
• Pennsylvania Convention Center reaches $1 billion in economic impact, with definite bookings through 2006.
• The Philadelphia Fringe Festival debuts. Now an annual event every September in Old City, it offers cutting-edge performances in theaters and alternative spaces throughout the city.
• Philadelphia International Airport completes a $1 billion Capital Improvement Program, adding new and upgraded terminals, improved baggage delivery, moving sidewalks, expanded ticket pavilion, retail concession mall and improved security checkpoints.
• QVC opens its $100 million headquarters – Studio Park – in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The home shopping TV network begins giving tours of the 80-acre site.

1998

• Governor Tom Ridge is re-elected and continues to approve funding for the arts and tourism-related efforts.
• New hotels open: 294-suite Hawthorn Suites Philadelphia at the Convention Center; 152-room Hampton Inn at Philadelphia; and the 288-suite Embassy Suites on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
• The 21,000-seat, $210 million Comcast-Spectacor First Union Center, now the Wachovia Center, opens as the new home to the Philadelphia Flyer’s hockey team, the 76ers basketball team and the Wings lacrosse team.
• The $7 million overhaul of the Reading Terminal Headhouse is completed, giving the Pennsylvania Convention Center a grand front entrance on Market Street.

1999

• New hotels open: 210-room Marriott expansion into the Headhouse, adjacent to the 1,200-room Marriott Philadelphia Convention Center; the 318-suite Windsor Hotel; the renovated 569-room Warwick Hotel; the 238-room Inn at Penn; the 250-room Twelve Caesars Hotel; and the 500-room Courtyard by Marriott.
• The Pennsylvania Convention Center completes technology upgrade and becomes one of the most technologically advanced convention centers in the country.
• Philadelphia Zoo celebrates its 125th anniversary with the opening of the Peco Primate Center.
• New Lights of Liberty attraction, the world’s first walkable sound and light show, opens at Independence National Historical Park.
• The new Cruise Ship Terminal at Pier 1 at the Philadelphia Naval Business Center opens.
• A 1% hotel tax increase to permanently fund GPTMC’s tourism marketing efforts is passed.
• The Prince Music Theater opens after a $7.5 million renovation of an historic theater on Chestnut Street; the theater presents festivals, premieres, a repertory film series and family programs.
• On the Avenue of the Arts, seating capacity at venues increases 16% from 6,227 before 1995 to 7,217 in 1999.
• Philadelphia becomes the mural capital of the country with 1,874 murals.
• Greater Philadelphia First releases its annual report on regional economic benchmarks, calling the hospitality and tourism sector the region’s third largest and one of its "most significant growth industries."
• Philadelphia hosts the world premiere of local director M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, at the Prince Music Theater; the unexpected blockbuster was filmed in Philadelphia.
• On December 31, 1999, during Millennium Philadelphia’s 24-hour celebration, two historic landmarks were permanently lighted – the William Penn statue atop City Hall and seven Schuylkill River bridges. Rittenhouse Square's annual holiday lighting tradition also began and later expanded to other city squares.

2000

• Newly elected City of Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street takes office in January.
• Hotels open: 300-room Hotel Sofitel; 330-room The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia; 279-room Hilton Garden Inn; and the 585-room Loews Philadelphia.
• National Liberty Museum opens in Historic District.
• NCAA Women’s Final Four draws 40,000 fans to the city in March.
• Republican National Convention brings 20,000 delegates and guests and 15,000 media representatives to the city.
• Philadelphia Orchestra celebrates its centennial with year-long festivities.
• President Clinton is on hand for the groundbreaking of the National Constitution Center on Constitution Day, September 17.
• Millennium Philadelphia continues with an 18-hour celebration on December 31, commemorating the centennial of City Hall and the Mummers.

2001

• Hotels open: 350-room Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing and 200-room Hampton Inn.
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrates its 125th anniversary with a series of special exhibitions, programs and events throughout the year.
• The best-preserved archaeological find in an urban American area is discovered on the grounds of the under-construction National Constitution Center.
• Philadelphia hosts ESPN’s X Games, the world’s premier and original summer action sporting event, for the first year of a two-year contract to be completed in August 2002.
• In September, Mayor John F. Street challenges the hospitality industry to create a $3.6 million marketing program to aid the region’s short-term recovery after the September 11 attack on the U.S. The result is the Philly’s More Fun When You Sleep Over marketing campaign, featuring the Philly Overnight Hotel Package. The campaign generated 36,645 room nights and was the country’s most successful hotel recovery plan.
• Regional, $38 million Independence Visitor Center opens in November on Independence Mall.
• The $265 million Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts opens in December on the Avenue of the Arts.
• Mummer string bands collaborate with the hospitality community to create and launch a month-long Winter Mummerland festival, in which Mummers ride through town on illuminated floats during the holiday season.

2002

• Philadelphia hosts the NBA All Star 2002, a weekend-long event featuring the NBA All-Star game, Jam Session, All-Star Saturday and an All-Star Shootout.
• The Multicultural Affairs Congress officially launches its travel Web site, designed specifically to attract people of color to the Philadelphia region.
• The Residence Inn by Marriott Center City Philadelphia opens in a landmark building.
• The Delaware River Port Authority approves grants to the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and GPTMC for international marketing.
• In June, GPTMC launches Philly’s More Fun When You Stay Up Late and the Philly Triple-Night Hotel Package, the first campaign to package summer nights in Philadelphia.
• GPTMC kicks off the Philly Friends and Family campaign, providing residents with a tourism tool kit to encourage regional visitation and overnight hotel stays. The program, funded by the Delaware River Port Authority, devotes $3 million to advertising and $1 million to product development over three years.
• The Philadelphia Neighborhood Tourism Network debuts a cultural immersion tour program in six neighborhoods.
• The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts ushers in its first summer season with an all-night Summer Solstice celebration. The annual event gives performing arts enthusiasts the opportunity to appreciate music and dance performances while welcoming the start of the summer season.
• The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance begins the region’s Campaign for Culture and launch a new consumer Web site, www.PhillyFunGuide.com, offering up-to-the-minute information about leisure time activities in the region.
• On October 22, Carnival Cruise Line’s “Legend” sails into Philadelphia to pick up passengers for a six-day cruise to Bermuda. This sailing launches CruisePhilly, an initiative to market Philadelphia as a cruise port.

2003

• Former Mayor of Philadelphia Edward Rendell takes office as Governor of Pennsylvania.
• The CultureFiles, an online inventory of 400 of the region’s arts and cultural offerings funded by the William Penn Foundation, debuts on gophila.com to increase the marketing capacity of regional attractions.
• The Philadelphia International Airport opens a new international terminal, which adds 13 gates to the seven already used for overseas flights.
• Christ Church Burial Ground reopens to the public after a 25-year hiatus.
• Two of the Philadelphia region’s most popular Web sites – www.phila.gov and www.gophila.com – partner to give visitors and residents the region’s most comprehensive tourism and civic online resource.
• GPTMC hosts 150 members of the Society of American Travel Writers, the premier organization for travel professionals in North America.
• Ride the Ducks, a unique land-to-water touring vehicle, debuts.
• Made famous in London, Big Bus Tours begin service in Philadelphia with multiple stops at city attractions.
• GPTMC launches Philly Friends, a group of volunteers devoted to building civic pride and regional tourism.
• The $185 million National Constitution Center opens on July 4 on Independence Mall.
• The Pennsylvania Convention Center signs Customer Satisfaction Agreement to ensure competitive costs and customer-focused services.
• Lincoln Financial Field, the new 68,000-seat home to the Philadelphia Eagles, opens.
• The $12.6 million Liberty Bell Center opens near Chestnut Street between 5th & 6th Streets.
• The Phillies play their last season in Veterans’ Stadium.
• The Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center opens in fall.
• GPTMC’s popular Philly’s More Fun When You Sleep Over ads, featuring the “pajama man,” are posted in Times Square’s video billboard and outside of Madison Square Garden on a 100-foot banner.
• With the support of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, GPTMC launches nation’s largest gay tourism marketing campaign. Ads placed in the U.S. and Canada feature the tagline, “Philadelphia – Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay.”
• The Army/Navy game returns to Philadelphia. City to host the game through 2008, with the exception of 2007.
• M. Night Shyamalan films yet another movie, The Village, in the region – this time in Chester County.
• Stephen Starr purchases the acclaimed Striped Bass, making it his 10th Philadelphia restaurant.
• Schuylkill River Park Trail, a path extending from Kelly Drive to the urban heart of Philadelphia, opens, making it possible to bike 22 miles along the Schuylkill River from Center City to Valley Forge.

2004

• The annual Mummer’s New Year’s Day Parade returns to Broad Street.
• Mayor John F. Street begins his second term in office.
• The Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul, makes its hometown debut in February.
• The Phillies’ ballpark, Citizens Bank Park, a 43,000-seat, natural grass and dirt field, opens on April 12, 2004.
• Super Ducks, the city’s second land-to-water tour, debuts.
• Local author Jennifer Weiner’s novel, In Her Shoes, is filmed in Philadelphia with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette.
• The PHLASH—Downtown Tourist Loop resumes service in Center City in May 2004. The bright purple buses-turned-trolleys are privatized and return with a new look, a new route and a new fare structure.
• GPTMC makes Philadelphia the first destination in the world to broadcast a gay-themed television commercial as part of the city’s gay tourism campaign, Philadelphia – Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay.
• Southwest Airlines begins low-fare service to Philadelphia in May and expands service in July, adding new routes and increasing Philly’s visibility through in-market advertising.
• Frontier Airlines begins low-fare service from Philadelphia International Airport in May.
• Center City District completes $5.3 million project to improve lighting on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Enhancements include new roadway fixtures and lighting of public art and architecturally significant buildings.
• Stephen Starr adds to his high-concept dining empire with Washington Square, Continental Mid-town and Barclay Prime, for a total of 12 Philadelphia restaurants.
• The MTV reality show, The Real World Philadelphia, debuts, exposing a potential of 68 million viewers in 43 countries to the city.
• World Café Live opens as a unique dining and concert venue, in addition to housing the broadcast studios of the award-winning World Café radio program on WXPN-FM.
• The Second Bank of the United States reopens with a new exhibit that broadens the story of 18th-century Philadelphia.
• Center City District completes a $750,000 lighting project to illuminate all four exterior facades of City Hall.
• The Giant Heart at The Franklin Institute Science Museum beats again after six months of intensive care.
• 2004-2005 marks the 20-year anniversary of the Mural Arts Program, which has completed more than 2,300 murals throughout Philadelphia.
• The Barnes Foundation receives permission to move from Merion, Pennsylvania to Center City Philadelphia. The Pew Charitable Trusts, Lenfest Foundation and others commit to raising $150 million for the project.
• GPTMC and the Washington DC Convention and Tourism Commission team up to create a two-city tour promoting the sites and attractions featured in the Nicholas Cage film National Treasure.

2005

• The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, America’s oldest art museum and school of fine arts, celebrates its 200th anniversary with a glamorous gala marking the opening of the new fine arts campus.
• Philadelphia’s landmark Boathouse Row goes dark for several months as the 11 rowing clubs along the Schuylkill River are updated with a new computer-operated LED lighting system, to be unveiled in June.
• The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International honors GPTMC with two prestigious Platinum Adrian Awards, plus a “Best of Show” recognition for the city’s gay tourism marketing campaign, which picked up five awards total. GPTMC’s PR department received two more Gold and one Silver award for other work.
• Philly goes “green” with excitement as the Philadelphia Eagles make their first Super Bowl appearance since 1981—but alas! They are defeated by the New England Patriots, 23-21.
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Salvador Dalí retrospective is a success, with more than 370,000 visitors, 85% of whom came from outside Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Advanta and GPTMC worked together to create an unprecedented marketing campaign, which came to be nationally recognized as The Dali Model, serving as a template for future projects.
• The New Jersey State Aquarium reopens in May as the Adventure Aquarium.
• On Memorial Day weekend 2005, Once Upon A Nation, a new summer-long celebration featuring storytelling, tours and colonial re-enactments, kicks off.
• Center City District announces that a total of 6,436 new residential units were added to Center City between 1998 and 2004. Increase translates into more than 9,300 new residents, a 12% increase over the 2000 Census.
• Center City District’s State of Center City 2005 report reveals that the downtown area is now home to 149 outdoor cafes, up 43% from 2002.
• City’s bring-your-own-bottle (BYOB) restaurant boom continues with more than 120 such establishments in the region, according to the 2005 ZagatSurvey.
• Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World to make its world debut at the National Constitution Center on December 15, 2005. The exhibition is the key component of city’s year-long Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia celebration to commemorate the Franklin’s 300th birthday.
• Even in a year without the National Hockey League in action, Philadelphia hockey still wins big, as the Philadelphia Phantoms scores the American Hockey League’s 2005 Calder Cup.
• In April 2004, Mayor Street announces Wireless Philadelphia initiative to provide city-wide wireless Internet access by the end of 2006. Plan receives international media attention, putting Philadelphia on the map as a forward-thinking city.
• On July 3, 2005, the National Park Service unveils a new lighting project so that the American flag can fly 24-hours a day over Independence Hall.
• Summer 2005, the first phase of a $10 million restoration project is completed at Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, a Fairmount Park institution most famous for its 100-year-old Giant Wooden Slide.
• On July 2, 2005, two decades after hosting the original Live Aid, Philadelphia serves as the North American host city for Live 8, a day-long, global concert series featuring music’s biggest stars. An estimated 400,000 people attended the show, giving Philadelphia higher attendance figures than any of the other host cities.
• On August 14, 2005, the New York Times prints cover story on its Sunday Styles section, entitled “Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough.” The buzz-inducing headline serves as water-cooler talk for weeks.In fall 2005, the William Penn Foundation awards GPTMC a $1.6 million grant to develop Think Outside, a comprehensive and collaborative marketing campaign aimed at promoting the region’s natural assets and recreational opportunities. Taking place over a three-year period, the campaign will kick off in spring 2006.
• National Geographic Traveler declares Philadelphia the “Next Great City” in October 2005.
• The Cira Centre opens in Philadelphia, changing the face of the Philadelphia skyline. With direct access to 30th Street Station, the building features 28 floors of office space.
• Governor Edward G. Rendell presents the Convention Center Authority with a $16 million check for the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

2006 and Beyond

• Chester County’s Longwood Gardens to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2006 with a $25 million renovation.
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art to present Andrew Wyeth: Memory and Magic, a retrospective exhibition that surveys seven decades of the artist’s achievements, on display from March through July, 2006.
• Live music venue and restaurant House of Blues to open on Chestnut Street in late spring 2006.
• The historic 2,400-seat Boyd Theatre to reopen in fall 2006 after an extensive restoration project.
• Blockbuster Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition to run at The Franklin Institute Science Museum from February through September 2007.
• Please Touch Museum to reopen in Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park in 2007.
• New addition to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Perelman building, to be complete in spring 2007.
• The 57-story Comcast Center to open at 17th and John F. Kennedy Boulevard; building will rise 30 feet above Liberty Place.
• Philadelphia Theater Company to reopen as the Suzanne Roberts Theater on the Avenue of the Arts by fall 2007.
• New, $100 million National Museum of American Jewish History to open on Independence Mall East in 2009.
• The Barnes Foundation to open on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in late 2009 after relocating from original site in Merion, Pennsylvania.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) builds the region’s economy and image through destination marketing to increase the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay and the number of things they do in the five-county region. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

CONTACT:

Jeff Guaracino, GPTMC
(215) 599- 2290, jeff@gptmc.com