Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

CONTACT:

Paula Butler

GPTMC

(215) 599-0776

GPTMC RELEASES THREE-YEAR VISITOR STUDY
Advertising Campaign Is Polishing Region’s Image, Bringing In More Visitors

PHILADELPHIA, May 9, 2001 -- If you've noticed more tourists in Philadelphia over the past few years, there are some good reasons: the city’s turnaround, the success of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and our new hotels and attractions. There’s also the work of the region's tourism marketing agency, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), which today reported that its advertising, placed between 1997 and 1999, brought in 3.2 million incremental leisure visitors to the five-county region. The cost of that advertising, placed in New York and Northeast markets, was $5.2 million, and it brought in $335 million in visitor spending in the region, according to research conducted by Longwoods International.

"Our ultimate job here at GPTMC is to develop the area economy -- jobs, sales and taxes -- by bringing in more overnight visitors to Philadelphia," said Meryl Levitz, president and CEO of GPTMC. "The research has told us that, for every one dollar we spent in advertising, visitors spent an average of $65 in the Philadelphia region, so you could say that we are fulfilling our mission. That's good news, and it’s only the beginning." For every dollar spent by GPTMC in advertising, visitor spending climbed from $54.75 in 1997 to $61.60 in 1998 and $79.50 in 1999.

GPTMC commissioned an in-depth, three-year study from Longwoods International to determine the effectiveness of its advertising and to gain more information about Philadelphia's potential and current visitors and their perceptions of the destination. Levitz pointed out that the scientifically measured portion of the GPTMC tourism promotion program represented only about 25 percent of what the organization does. "We're proud of what we can measure, but we also know that there is value in what we cannot," she said. In addition to general, "image" television advertising, GPTMC also invests significantly in magazine, newspaper and Internet advertising and public relations.

Longwoods surveyed a random sample of 200,000 people in U.S. cities each year for the last three years. "We determined who saw GPTMC's advertising and who did not, and then we measured their travel behavior and perceptions," said Bill Siegel of Longwoods (which does tourism research for such destinations as Colorado, New Jersey, Hawaii, Maine, New Orleans and Oregon). "Only extra visits from those who saw advertising, above and beyond what other travelers did, were counted as a result of the campaign. We’ve used this methodology in many destinations, and it does not always produce good results." Siegel termed GPTMC’s results "strong."

Following are some highlights from the Longwoods research:

All overnight trips to Philadelphia totaled more than $30 million in the three years 1997-1999. Of those, 7.8 million were trips by discretionary overnight visitors (including 6.0 million purely leisure visitors and 1.8 million visitors who combined business with pleasure stays); 14 million trips by people visiting friends and relatives (called VFRs, the largest single segment for most destinations); and 9.5 million trips by people visiting for business, meetings and conventions.

All overnight visitors spent $7.54 billion in the region: They spent 39% for accommodations, 30% for food, 13% for transportation, 13% for retail and 5% for recreation.

Tourism advertising is impacting the image of the Philadelphia region among potential travelers. More than 11 million residents of the Northeast corridor saw Philadelphia's 1999 general advertising, and they had a more favorable perception of the five-county region than those who had not. Of the top l0 attributes travelers seek in the cities they visit, Philadelphia got a boost in eight areas, including the perception that the city is a good place for adults to visit, that it is exciting, that it is good for families, that it is popular, that it has great sightseeing, that it is a worry-free place to visit, that it is unique and that it has great entertainment.

The more visitors know about Philadelphia, the more they like the destination. "That’s good," says Levitz. "Because that means we’re not over-promising and under-delivering. The destination delivers." According to Longwoods research, visitors to Philadelphia rate the region more highly than non-visitors in 11 out of 13 categories (and just as highly in the other two categories). The largest improvement between attitudes of visitors and non-visitors was found in five attributes: Philadelphia as an exciting destination (58% for visitors versus 48% for non visitors), as having good entertainment (58% versus 44%), as a unique destination (46% versus 38%), as luxurious (52% versus 43%), affordable (46% versus 38%) and as a place with good African-American attributes (52% versus 41%).

The three top purposes for discretionary leisure trips to Philadelphia in 1999 were as follows: to attend a special event, including cultural and sports events (24% of those surveyed), to visit as part of an individual, touring vacation where Philadelphia is not the only destination (22%) and to extend an individual business trip for pleasure (21%).

The top attractions seen or visited in 1999 in Philadelphia County: Independence National Historical Park and Liberty Bell (40% of those surveyed), Betsy Ross House (17%), Franklin Mills Mall (14%), U.S. Mint (11%), Franklin Institute (11%), Philadelphia Museum of Art (9%), African-American Museum (5%) Independence Seaport Museum (5%) and Rodin Museum (4%).

The top attractions seen or visited in 1999 in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties: King of Prussia Mall (22% of those surveyed), Valley Forge National Park (12%), Sesame Place (7%), Valley Forge Museum (6%), Franklin Mint Museum (5%), Longwood Gardens (4%), Peddler's Village (3%), Pearl S. Buck House (3%), Washington Crossing Park (3%), Penn's Purchase Outlet (2%), Brandywine Battlefield Park (2%), New Hope & Ivyland Railroad (1%) and Michener Museum (1%).

The leading five-county Philadelphia area trip experiences and activities in 1999: shopping (55% of those surveyed), historic areas (42%), historical attractions (33%), small towns/villages (29%), unique local foods (26%), rural farming areas (25%), historic houses (24%), colleges/universities (24%), entertainment/shows (21%), interesting architecture (19%).

Visitor profile: Typical overnight leisure visitors to the region come from the states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and the cities of New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. They’re almost equally male and female, 25-54 years old, married, highly educated and professional. They arrive by their own car (66% of the time) or travel by air (21% of the time), stay 4+ nights in the region and travel with a spouse or partner (55% of the time) or with children (33%).

In addition to commissioning the Longwoods research of travelers' behaviors, GPTMC works with the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association and Horwath Horizon Hospitality Advisors LLC (HHHA) to track the Philadelphia region's growing hotel inventory and the demand for hotel rooms among visitors. Since January 1998, some 40 hotels with 6,500 rooms have opened in the five-county area, according to Peter Tyson of HHHA. "Fortunately, demand growth has been reasonably strong in recent years, and the new rooms should be fully absorbed in the next three years if a full recession doesn't interfere," said Tyson. Tyson's research revealed that demand for hotel rooms increased 16%, from 6,240,000 room nights (based on total number of available rooms in a one-year period) sold in 1997 to 7,230,000 sold in 2000. Room rates have risen 13%, from $98 in 1997 to $111 in 2000. And room revenues have climbed 31%, from $614 million in 1997 to $805 million in 2000.

In addition to the general advertising measured by Longwoods, GPTMC placed event-oriented regional and national advertising in newspapers and magazines, and a cooperative campaign with the American Automobile Association (AAA). The company also maintains a Web site promoting Philadelphia tourism: www.gophila.com, which hosted more than 1 million visitors in 2000. And GPTMC has run an aggressive public relations campaign, generating more than 2,000 favorable articles about the Philadelphia region between July 1999 and December 2000, with an equivalent advertising value of more than $25 million.

As GPTMC marks its five-year anniversary this spring, the organization is launching a new advertising campaign in television, magazines, newspapers and radio and continuing its push on the Web and in public relations.

"Compared with competitors like Boston, New York and Washington, Philadelphia has come very late to the tourism party," said Levitz. "We have a lot of catching up to do, but we also have a lot to celebrate."

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to generating awareness of and visitation to Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. For more information about the tourism research or about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call (877) GO-PHILA.

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