Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

As the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) takes its popular With Love, Philadelphia XOXO® initiative from campaign to consumer experience, the destination marketing organization is proud to announce a wider release of Victory Brewing Company’s Summer Love Ale on July 6. Brewed locally in Chester County, Pennsylvania with pale malts, German hops and water from the Brandywine River, the golden brew began flowing freely at bars and restaurants throughout the Philadelphia region during the annual Philly Beer Week. After its sell-out debut, Victory is brewing a double batch of Summer Love Ale to keep up with demand.

In the

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) joined with the William Penn Foundation, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) and the local food community today to announce the launch of Philly Homegrown™, a $450,000 consumer education and tourism marketing program. Philly Homegrown™, accompanied by the tagline Real Local Flavor, promotes the people, places and flavors of the area’s 100-mile foodshed—from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties to Amish Country to the Atlantic Ocean.

The two-year initiative will help to broaden people’s understanding of the region’s bountiful local food scene and identify foods that are healthy, delicious and support

Foodies eager to dig into Philadelphia’s local food scene need look no further than visitphilly.com/food. The special section on the Philadelphia region’s official tourism Web site allows visitors to plan their Philly Homegrown experience—farmers’ markets, restaurants, pick-your-own options, Amish treats and Philadelphia faves—from start to finish. On visitphilly.com/food, visitors can:

• Explore the tons of local food offerings in Philadelphia, including farmers’ markets, restaurants that use local ingredients, pick-your-own farms and orchards, wineries and breweries
• Plan a whole day—or a few days—of local nourishment with Center City and regional itineraries
• Meet the people leading Philadelphia’s local food movement, from

As the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) marks the first anniversary of its popular Philly 360°® African-American tourism marketing campaign, which won a Silver Anvil Award of Excellence in June 2010, the organization is unveiling a host of new initiatives for year two, including a new Web site, new advertising, new partnerships and even more Creative Ambassadors. All of the campaign’s elements aim to expand Philadelphia’s current visitor base by attracting a new group of African-American travelers who are younger, tech savvy and driven to an urban destination based on its contemporary offerings, vibrant nightlife and overall buzz factor.

Philly’s bleeding orange and writing letters. To show its support for the Flyers, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) uses its popular With Love, Philadelphia XOXO® campaign, which features love letters and a bit of Philly “atty-tude.” Throughout the Stanley Cup Final, the letters will appear on visitphilly.com, the Philadelphia region’s official site; uwishunu.com, the “what’s happening” blog; and social media properties such as Facebook and Twitter.

So, what did Philly write?

• Dear Mike Richards, I have an orange crush on you.
• Dear Chicago, I see your deep dish and raise you a Whiz Wit.
• Dear Chicagoland, Welcome to

As the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) takes its popular With Love, Philadelphia XOXO® initiative from campaign to consumer experience, the destination marketing organization is proud to announce the launch of the Victory Brewing Company’s Summer Love Ale. Brewed locally in Chester County, PA with pale malts, German hops and Brandywine Creek water, the golden brew will begin flowing freely at bars and restaurants throughout the region on June 4, 2010—just in time for Philly Beer Week, a 10-day festival featuring hundreds of events and thousands of beers in what organizers dub as “America’s best beer-drinking city.” Throughout the

Egyptian history buffs eager to visit Philadelphia for the Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt exhibition—making its world premiere at The Franklin Institute science museum, June 5, 2010 through January 2, 2011—need look no further than visitphilly.com/cleopatra. The special section on the Philadelphia region’s official tourism Web site allows visitors to plan their Egyptian adventure in Philly from start to finish.

On visitphilly.com/cleopatra, visitors can:

• Get full exhibition details and purchase tickets
• Book a Cleopatra VIP Hotel Package, including overnight accommodations for two and two VIP (untimed, bypass-the-line) tickets to the exhibition
• Learn the story

People are falling more in love with the With Love, Philadelphia XOXO™ tourism marketing campaign, and this summer promises to be filled with affection in the City of Brotherly Love as year two of the popular campaign gets underway. Victory Brewing Company, Capogiro Gelato Artisans, Where® Philadelphia magazine, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Independence Visitor Center are joining forces with the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) to make With Love an experience that people can not only see, but also touch and taste.

Thanks to the improving economy, Philadelphia’s strength in the leisure

Today the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) released new numbers in its Tourism 2010 Report to the Region: Worth the Trip. The entire report is available for free on visitphilly.com/research. Here’s a look at just some of the important statistics inside:

Who Visited In 2009?:

• 36 million domestic travelers made a trip to Greater Philadelphia in 2009.
• More than 80% of them came for a leisure purpose (to have fun).
• 52.9% of day and overnight visitors came from the Mid-Atlantic region, underscoring the region’s accessibility by car. Philadelphia is within a five-hour drive of a quarter of

As part of the “Phanatic Around Town” tourism and fan initiative, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), sponsor of the With Love, Philadelphia XOXO® Phanatic—one of 20 hand-painted statues around town—today announced “Phanatic Tuesdays.” This social media promotion encourages visitors to snap photos with the Phanatic statue of the week and upload them to the visitphilly fan page on Facebook or share them via Twitter (using a #Phanatic hashtag to help Twitter users track all Phanatic-related tweets).

On each Tuesday from now through September, GPTMC will reveal the statue of the week at twitter.com/visitphilly and facebook.com/visitphilly. Today’s “Phanatic

Mayor Michael A. Nutter and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) announced today that Philadelphia set another leisure record: Center City leisure room-nights rose 3%, from 714,000 in 2008 to 735,000 in 2009, according to PKF Consulting. Originally forecasted to be down 2% in 2009, Center City Philadelphia’s leisure market showed its strength and resilience by growing for the third consecutive year—despite the fact that 2009 was the most difficult year the tourism industry has faced since 9/11. Over the last 13 years, leisure hotel room nights in Center City have increased by 189%.

What’s more, Saturday night, an

Philadelphians have long known that their city is easy to get around, chock full of farmers markets, kind to bikers and teeming with great take-out options, and now Real Simple magazine is making sure the world knows as well, ranking the city 12^th in its survey of “21 Top Time-Saving Cities” in the country. The article appears in the April issue of the publication on newsstands March 15, 2010.

Philadelphia rated particularly high in the “Green Time-Savers” category with author Adam Bluestein writing, “ Very walkable and notably uncongested, Philly is also the largest East Coast city to offer

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today announced the 10 new creative ambassadors—visual and performing artists and entrepreneurs from Philadelphia’s talented creative class—who will shape its Philly 360°® African-American marketing campaign in year two. Singer, songwriter and former member of Floetry, Marsha Ambrosius will serve as 2010’s lead creative ambassador, promoting a positive image of Philadelphia and building buzz about the city. Ambrosius and nine others are at the core of the campaign designed to showcase the city’s attributes by leveraging the authentic voice, credibility and social networks of Philly’s cultural influencers. Last year, Philly hip-hop heroes The Roots

African-American tourism marketing campaign Philly 360°®. Now in its second year, the initiative focuses on expanding the destination’s current visitor base by attracting a new group of African-American travelers who are younger, technologically savvy and driven to an urban destination based on its contemporary cultural offerings, vibrant nightlife and overall buzz factor. The name Philly 360°® reflects a commitment to giving potential visitors a 360° view of the city’s current and historic tourism offerings.

At the core of the campaign are the Philly 360°® Creative Ambassadors, members of the city’s creative class who are known nationally for their work and

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today announced that the Shop America Alliance (SAA) recognized it as the best Destination Management Organization for the Philly 360°® African-American marketing campaign’s fall fashion promotion. SAA honored the 21 Shop America Salutes Innovation (SASI) award winners from organizations in the United States and Mexico at a ceremony in Las Vegas in January. Judges evaluated award recipients based on exceptional marketing creativity that promotes shopping, dining and/or cultural attractions as tourism activities

Philly 360°®’s fall fashion promotion included:

• visitphilly.com/Philly360: Devoted to Philly’s diverse creative scene, nightlife, music, history, food and more, visitphilly.com/philly360

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today launched a new video series available at visitphilly.com/northwest, highlighting the culture, history and vitality of the city’s Northwest neighborhoods. Funded by the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC), the project is part of an increased effort to market the vibrant, culturally rich communities of Chestnut Hill, East Oak Lane, Germantown, Mt. Airy and West Oak Lane to residents and visitors alike.

Saleana Pettaway, actress, dancer, choreographer, affiliate professor at Eastern University and lifelong resident of Northwest Philadelphia, hosts the vodcasts, which give an overview of the area and spotlight eating and drinking,

This is a CBS 3/The CW Philly press release.

CBS 3 and The CW Philly will highlight the next generation of influential Black artists in Philadelphia in celebration of Black History Month. The stations will air a series of five vignettes throughout February, each focusing on a different young artist speaking about his or her profession and role in contributing to Black History.

Featured artists include: Music Director Jeri Lynne Johnson; Poet Ursula Rucker; Jazz Pianist Orrin Evans; Singer/Songwriter Nikki Jean, and Philadanco member Chloé Davis. The spots are hosted by CBS 3 and The CW Philly’s Natasha Brown, Anne-Marie

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today launched visitphilly.com, the new, renamed tourism Web site that replaces the popular gophila.com—a site that has received 40 million visits, ranked #1 on Google for the search term “Philadelphia” and built authority that equates to nearly 30,000 links to it. The dramatically enhanced Web site strengthens GPTMC’s ability to market Philadelphia and The Countryside® as a premier visitor destination to an ever-growing online audience who accesses travel information from their home computers, their laptops and their phones.

On visitphilly.com, travelers can book hotels, flights, rental cars and attraction tickets for Philadelphia

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today launched its 2010 $1.7 million tourism marketing campaign with 25 new With Love, Philadelphia XOXO™ ads, bringing the total to 115 personalized love letters addressed to travelers with all sorts of interests. Along with a winter TV commercial, the new ads will begin appearing today in publications such as People, Entertainment Weekly and Real Simple.

“For the next push of With Love, Philadelphia XOXO™, we’re running ads on television and in popular entertainment and lifestyle magazines to keep Philadelphia top of mind for travelers during this need period for hotels,” said Meryl Levitz,

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today launched visitphilly.com, the new, renamed tourism Web site that replaces the region’s popular and official tourism Web site, gophila.com.

WHY: GPTMC embarked on the new Web site project in order to achieve a dramatically enhanced Web site that strengthens GPTMC’s ability to market Philadelphia as a premier visitor destination to an ever-growing online audience.

NAME CHANGE: The new name, visitphilly.com, improves the marketability of the site by using words that are easy to remember and that say what we want users to do—visit Philly.

In addition, as consumer behavior leans more