PHILADELPHIA HOTELS SUPPORT THE PLACE THAT LOVES YOU BACK

America’s Fourth Largest City Joins the Big Leagues

PHILADELPHIA, May 6, 1999 – With the passage today of a one-percentage-point increase in Philadelphia’s hotel-occupancy tax, the nation’s fourth largest city joins the big leagues in its bid to lure greater numbers of leisure visitors. The tax increase will generate an estimated $3 million in its first year and will be used for marketing Philadelphia "The place that LOVES YOU BACK" – the tagline for the region’s leisure advertising campaign.

The increase brings Philadelphia’s total hotel-occupancy tax to 14 percent, comparable to the tax guests pay in hotels in Washington (15.6 percent), New York City (14.3 percent) and Atlanta (14 percent). Revenue generated by the 1 percent increase is earmarked for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, formed in 1996 to market the city to overnight leisure visitors. The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB), which also receives hotel-occupancy tax revenue, will continue to market to groups and conventions.

"With increased leisure business, the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000, and tremendous growth in new hotels here, we want to make sure that we’re well positioned to maintain our momentum before and after the RNC," said Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, the city’s number one champion of tourism. "GPTMC has already significantly impacted tourist visitation, and the revenue from the tax will enable them to expand their leisure marketing efforts."

GPTMC’s campaign focuses on celebrity endorsements from Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Ken Burns and Nicole Miller, and sells a diverse visitor experience from A to Z – from art to cuisine, history to performing arts and the nation’s oldest zoo.

The campaign generated over a million trips and almost $100 million in incremental expenditures in 1997, the last year for which data are available.

"We consider the passage of this tax a vote of confidence in the new tourism focused advertising," said Mickey Rowley, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. "In Philadelphia, hotel tax revenue is invested in advertising that directly benefits the industry, and with 75 percent more hotel rooms by the year 2000, this will become more important than ever."

GPTMC will be utilizing the new funding to promote the destination and hotel packages in feeder markets, such as New York, Baltimore and Washington. In addition, GPTMC will be allocating 25 percent of the new revenue to underwrite joint hotel association/GPTMC initiatives to increase overnights.

For the first three years of its existence, GPTMC was a pilot project charged with regional tourism marketing and funded by the city of Philadelphia, the state of Pennsylvania and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"This revenue stream from the hotels guarantees a permanent funding base for GPTMC, transforming our organization from an experimental to a permanent entity, so that Philadelphia will always have an advertising and promotional budget," said Meryl Levitz, president and CEO of GPTMC. "The funding will allow us to communicate unique Philadelphia experiences to families, history and culture seekers, multicultural audiences, and those who want to indulge in great dining and shopping."

For more information about GPTMC or travel to Philadelphia, visit GPTMC’s web site, at www.gophila.com.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to generating awareness of and visitation to the five great counties of the region: Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery.

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