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eTourism News
eTourism News
Current | August, 2006 | August, 2006 | March, 2006 | December, 2005 | Ocotober, 2005
 | | November 2006, Volume II Number III 
| | 1. TRIBUTE TO A FRIEND  Norman Tissian This summer, Philadelphia's hospitality industry lost a dear friend: Norman Tissian. A vocal supporter of all-things Philadelphia, Norman was devoted to bettering our city and promoting our region. Contributions can be made to the Norman Tissian Scholarship Fund, c/o The Star Foundation, Inc., 235 S. 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Return to top |
| | 2. PHILLY MAKES MORE HISTORY  Odyssey Awards Known for making history, Philadelphia made even more in October, when the Travel Industry of America (TIA) awarded GPTMC three out of its eight prestigious 2006 Odyssey Awards. The first organization to receive multiple honors in the same year, GPTMC took home the following 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
In addition, TIA awarded the Pennsylvania Tourism Office the Online Marketing award for their innovative "Real People, Real Roadtrips" online campaign. This year's competition was open to destinations, attractions, hospitality and transportation companies (airlines, cruise lines, etc.) from all over the world. Return to top |
| | 3. AND THE SURVEY SAYS... GPTMC distributed a survey to more than 2,200 people who booked rooms on gophila.com over the summer of 2006, and nearly 600 visitors responded. A full report is available online at gophila.com/research. Here's a preview: - When asked to give one reason that people should visit Philadelphia, visitors chose "because there's so much to do" as the top answer (45%), ahead of "for the great history" (25%).
- When asked what Philadelphia advertising they recognized, an impressive 81% cited the Philly's More Fun When You Sleep Over® campaign.
- Spending by hotel guests in Philadelphia has increased 32.4% from summer 2004 to summer 2006.Visitors now spend $899 per travel party.
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| 4. MARKETING FIT FOR A PHARAOH  Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Press Kit Cover Tut season is under way! GPTMC is partnering with The Franklin Institute, the last stop on the current North American tour of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, presented by Mellon Financial Corp., to make Philly's king-sized celebration a success. Here's a look at what we've done so far and some suggestions for how you can get involved:
What We've Done: - Purchased Madison Square Garden banner, which will be devoted to Tut from December 1, 2006 through January 2, 2007
- Included Tut message in all winter 2006-2007 advertorial buys and purchased dedicated Tut advertising in Pathfinders and Find New York
- Created a Tut press kit, to be distributed to more than 1,000 members of the media this month
- Ran Visiting Journalist Program press trip in September to preview Philly's Tut celebration
- Arranged Tut media lunches in New York and Washington D.C. in November
- Began a dedicated Web presence for the city's Tut activities at gophila.com/tut, which will continue to expand
- Created a special Tut section on gophila. com's pressroom
- Planned out the rest of the marketing campaign!
How You Can Get Involved: - GPTMC is offering a Tut Rental Program, where items such as sphinxes, statues, golden arches, costumes and more will be available for rental by the day, week or month.
- Join in Philadelphia's "Go Golden" theme. Create an Egyptian motif in your store or lobby, give a discount with a Tut ticket stub, offer a "Queen-For-A-Day" spa package, paint your display windows gold, offer an Egyptian-themed meal or dress your staff up in Pharaoh's costumes.
For more information about both of these opportunities, contact Vicky Pettinaro at (267) 322-6220, vicky@gptmc.com. Return to top |
| 5. SOUNDABOUTPHILLY TOURS GIVE AN INSIDER'S LOOK AT PHILLY  SoundAboutPhilly podcast K. Ciappa for GPTMC GPTMC's new podcasting tour site, soundaboutphilly.com, went live on September 19, 2006. Each of the four tours currently on the site concentrates on lesser-known city experiences and combines interesting tales, fun facts and lively music to introduce listeners to the sounds, history and culture of Philadelphia. The series of free tours, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, is dynamically mapped with Google maps and completely customizable. Soon after the launch, several high-profile blogs including Philebrity, Gridskipper and GoogleMapsMania discussed SoundAboutPhilly. There has also been media coverage in several publications, including the Philadelphia Business Journal, Metro, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Toronto Star, with continuing media interest from other media outlets nationwide. Since the launch, there have been nearly 350 visitors per day, many downloading the tours to their i-Pods or just listening to the audio directly from the site. Notably, 19.45% of these visitors have been international. Return to top |
| 6. HOMETOWN HERO IS A KNOCK OUT FOR PHILLY  Sylvester Stallone in front of the Rocky Statue M. Kennedy for GPTMC Thirty years after Sylvester Stallone's famous run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as Rocky Balboa in the 1976 film, the city celebrated the movie's anniversary and the upcoming release of the series' last installment with "Philly Loves Rocky Week." The highlight of the week was the dedication of the Rocky statue, installed at the base of the Art Museum's famed "Rocky Steps" on September 8, 2006. With Stallone on hand, Mayor John Street and other notable guests, including Joely Fisher and Connie Stevens, honored Philly's hometown hero. Media outlets all over the nation covered "Philly Loves Rocky Week" and the statue move, with 995 total television hits (945 regional and 50 national hits) and nearly 150 print and Web hits. We expect to see magazine coverage of the Rocky sites in Philadelphia in December 2006, when the sixth (and probably final) Rocky movie hits theaters. A city itinerary based on the film series is also available at gophila.com/rocky. Return to top |
| 7. ACCORDING TO THE PRESS  Dallas Morning News - "It's not just the Liberty Bell and the cheese steak anymore. Downtown Philadelphia has become one of America's exciting urban environments: an engaging, walkable downtown, a downtown of old Colonial neighborhoods and young nightclubs, of redeveloped loft warehouses and top-ranked restaurants by chef Stephen Starr." - Dallas Morning News (640,744 circulation), August 6, 2006
- "You may know that Philadelphia is filled with history and fine dining and plenty of culture. But you may not be aware of the city's many outdoor opportunities - among them hiking, biking, rowing, fishing, sailing, running, horseback riding, and even dog walking. To acquaint visitors with the possibilities, the city has launched a $1.7 million campaign called Boundless Philadelphia, with the details at www.gophila.com/outdoors. Such fresh-air fun adds one more reason to visit this nearby destination, where deals are easy to come by." - Boston Globe (652,146 circulation), August 6, 2006
- "In a salute to adopted son Benjamin Franklin on the 300th anniversary of his birth, once-scruffy Franklin Square in Philadelphia - the City of Brotherly Love - has been given $6.5 million of loving care to make it a family-friendly tourist attraction." - Los Angeles Times (1,253,849 circulation), August 6, 2006
- "In fact, South Jersey Tourism Corp. was modeled after GPTMC, which is considered one of the nation's leaders in marketing to leisure travelers—those who travel for fun, with family or friends, and who may or may not stay in hotels or even overnight. GPTMC has helped increase average hotel occupancy-rates and the prices charged for guest rooms." - Philadelphia Business Journal (12,486 circulation), August 11-17, 2006
- "The GPTMC...launched Sound About Philly, a podcast "insider" tour of Philadelphia. The episode I listened to was one of the few podcasts I've ever been able to get through (Jon Solomon's is another one) and so, for that, it deserves some props. Plus, it allows people to make their own 'casts and has an RSS feed. Impressive work." - Philadelphia Weekly's blog, September 20, 2006
- "Here is a fantastic new Google Maps mashup from the 'Official Visitor Site of Greater Philadelphia' (gophila.com/byobmap) that combines sound with Google Maps...It's a model mashup for other city tourism sites!" - Google Maps Mania blog, September 22, 2006
- "Yo, Philly. You finally smartened up. Know what we mean? We refer, of course, to the recent and long overdue move of the Rocky statue back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the perfect way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film about Philadelphia's favorite fictional palooka." - Hartford Courant (184,254 circulation), September 28, 2006
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| 8. PHILLY OVERNIGHT® HOTEL PACKAGE RETURNS FOR WINTER  Tony Boutique, Old City P. Pugliese for GPTMC Just in time for the winter, the Philly's More Fun When You Sleep Over® campaign returns, and with it comes the popular Philly Overnight® Hotel Package. Available from November 17, 2006 through April 9, 2007, the package includes two-night accommodations, free parking, a Philly's More Fun teddy bear and the Philly's Sleepover Savings Coupon Book with discounts at area attractions, restaurants and shops. The package will be bookable in November at gophila.com/sleepover. Return to top |
| 9. GOPHILA .COM EXPANDS ITS REACH This fall, gophila.com will begin syndicating content (e.g. restaurant, hotel, attraction information) on Google. Google's Local Search results for Philadelphia will be enhanced with added content from our comprehensive site. The strategic partnership will help us reach more potential visitors and ultimately deliver more traffic to our Web site. As of September 2006, Google dominated online searching, accounting for more than half of all searches on the Internet. Google now averages more than 400 million unique readers every month, an audience that we're eager to help find quality information about Philadelphia.* * According to Nielsen Net Rating and comScore Networks. Return to top |
| 10. AAA NEWS GPTMC is partnering with AAA, AmericanTours International (ATI) and the PCVB to create five new Philadelphia and The Countryside™ packages for travelers with special interests. Now available, packages include Gourmet Philadelphia, Shop Philadelphia and Philadelphia Heritage and Art & King Tut. There is also a package devoted exclusively to Philadelphia's King Tut celebration, as well as a six-night, multi-city rail package for the international market. These themed trips will be available at 45 AAA clubs encompassing 900 retail branches nationally and through CAA's (Canadian Automotive Association) nine clubs serving 130 branch offices internationally. All of the above packages will be distributed by ATI internationally and are available for sale to international tour operators. Individuals can book at AAA offices and online at www.AAA.com or www.CAA.ca. Return to top |
| 12. UWISHUNU, DON'T YOU? Consider this your official invitation to come find out what "uwishunu" at a party in Old City on Friday, December 1, 2006 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. Find out where the party is at by logging onto uwishunu.com. Return to top |
© - 2006 Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |  |
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