Who We Are

Who We Are | What We Do | GPTMC Leaders

Who We Are _

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) is a private, non-profit organization founded and funded in 1996 by the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1997, GPTMC launched the first consumer campaign to promote to potential tourists the diverse historical, cultural and entertainment/leisure aspects of the five-county region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia).

After September 11, 2001, GPTMC produced the Philly's More Fun When You Sleep Over® campaign, recognized as the number one tourism recovery generator in the country; the campaign has continued into 2005. GPTMC continues running an integrated marketing program using research; advertising in television, print, radio, outdoor and the Internet; and public relations in all media categories.

Mission

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation makes Philadelphia and The Countryside™ a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region’s vitality.

What We Mean by Philadelphia

We mean Philadelphia and Its Countryside: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties

What We Mean by Tourism Marketing

Making the region a star destination through the following

• Advertising in Print, Television, Radio, Outdoor and Online
• Attraction Marketing
• Collateral Materials/Fulfillment
• Consumer Collateral Materials
• Cooperative Advertising
• Cultural Tourism Marketing
• Event Marketing
• Gophila.com, the Region's Official Tourism Web Site
• Hotel Packaging
• Restaurant, Retail and Nightlife Program
  
• Marketing Alliances
• Media and Public Relations
• Partnerships/Promotions
• Pressroom on Gophila.com
• Stakeholder Relations
• Tourism Product Development
• Visitor and Marketing Research

What We Do _

Image Building
Changing how people feel about the region, so that they are more likely to visit

GPTMC promotes Philadelphia and Its Countryside as an incredible, affordable, accessible and desirable destination to the media and to leisure tourists. The resulting exposure is also naturally picked up by business travelers, convention attendees, business and university recruits, and people who travel to visit friends and relatives.

Media Communications to Reach Travelers
Getting local, regional and national reporters, producers and travel/special interest editors to write and run stories about Philadelphia as a travel destination

Getting local, regional and national reporters, producers and travel/special interest editors to write and run stories about Philadelphia as a travel destination GPTMC has developed a strong, award-winning (repeatedly!) public relations program (run entirely in-house), which has created this new image through aggressive media outreach and production of media tools, such as regional news content, professional photography and video (b-roll), press kits, a 3,200-person media database, visiting journalist program and Web content such as Philadelphia CultureFiles. In 2003, we generated 2,971 stories, reaching 925 million people and valued at $50 million in advertising equivalency - a 100 percent increase over 2002, which was also a record breaking year.

Advertising to Reach Potential Visitors
Advertising to invite potential visitors to come to Philadelphia and its Countryside

GPTMC designs and conducts local, regional, national and online advertising campaigns to put Philadelphia and Its Countryside "on the air" and top of mind all year long as an overnight destination. Top feeder markets run from Connecticut to Washington , D.C. and Virginia, with New York at the top and central Pennsylvania ever strong. The Philadelphia region is also a strong generator. GPTMC spends the bulk of its budget on media, focusing on advertising in network television, cable television, radio, magazine, newspaper, outdoor and on the World Wide Web. An aggressive cooperative advertising program for the region's attractions leverages their advertising dollars two-to-one and expands the size of placements from one-third page to full-page destination ads. GPTMC's grant program extends the advertising reach of historical, cultural and multicultural initiatives to markets beyond the five-county area.

Packaging and Direct Sales
Making it easier for prospective visitors to buy Philadelphia

To drive image and occupancy, GPTMC creates, advertises, promotes and tracks seasonal and event-related hotel packages, such as Philly Overnight ^(TM) and Philly-You Just Can't Do It In A Day ^(TM), as well as event related packages for New Year's Eve, Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show, Salvador Dali, Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia, Valentine's Day, etc. Hotel packages are listed on gophila.com, along with the option to purchase online or by calling the hotel to make a reservation.

Gophila.com
Getting the word out and getting people to say "Yes" to Philadelphia

Created just as the Internet was taking hold, GPTMC grew right along with the Web, building and promoting the region's official tourism web site, gophila.com. Newly redesigned and upgraded, Gophila.com now provides regional itineraries, a enhanced dining and nightlife section, personalized My Trip functionality, events, news, hotel booking options and a lot more. Gophila.com is also the provider of tourism content to phila.gov, the City of Philadelphia's municipal Web site.

Tourism Development Initiatives
Expanding and improving the tourism offerings in Philadelphia to extend the economic impact of tourism

Sometimes it's not enough to shine the light and spread the word; sometimes the product itself needs to grow or change. Working with regional stakeholders, GPTMC works to improve the visitor experience with such initiatives as holiday lighting, bringing back the Phlash, creating the Neighborhood Tourism Network, creating CultureFiles (with a grant from the William Penn Foundation) and working with the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) to create the CruisePhilly experience for this new tourism market.

Partnerships
Identifying strategic partners and developing integrated marketing programs to increase visitation

Speaking of collaboration, GPTMC is a constant convener, bringing together groups with similar interests to develop promotional programs to reach high-yield markets. Examples include our ongoing partnerships with the American Automobile Association (AAA), Comcast, Amtrak, the five county convention and visitor bureaus, the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, phila.gov, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Center City District and the Knowledge Industry Partnership.

Telling the Tourism Industry
Reinforcing the importance of tourism to the region

Because tourism is not a product manufactured in big buildings, its importance to the region's and the Commonwealth's bottom line was not easily seen until the devastating events of 9/11. GPTMC carries the torch for tourism, championing it as an economic development engine - the number two industry, in fact, for both Philadelphia and the Commonwealth - in order to increase support for it in public and private sectors.

Research
Assessing strategic use of resources and measuring effectiveness

We conduct five types of research:

• Head counting to determine the size and shape of the visitor market and hotel occupancy, in addition to tracking trends;
• Market mapping to gain more in-depth information about who our visitors are, where they live and why they visit;
• Data mining to gain further understanding of visitor patterns;
• Keeping in touch, through qualitative research including focus groups, to "take the pulse" of our visitors; and
• Bean counting to determine the economic impact of tourism and tourism spending.

In a recent study commissioned by GPTMC, Econsult Corporation studied the results from three GPTMC campaigns and found that, for every dollar spent in advertising, $185 in direct, indirect and induced spending was generated and $13 in regional and state taxes were produced.

Stakeholder Relations
Bringing it all back home

Visitors won't believe they are in a good place unless the region's residents feel it too. GPTMC works within the region to enable everyone to take part in the well-being of the place that loves you back, through our 60,000+ email newsletter subscribers; the region's residents with past programs such as Philly Friends; and our regular communications with legislators, cultural leaders, civic leaders, community groups, the hospitality industry itself and our own partnerships and advisory groups.

GPTMC Leaders _

Board of Directors

• Manuel N. Stamatakis, Chairman of GPTMC Board and Founder and CEO, Capital Management Enterprises
• Robert Asher, Co-Chairman of GPTMC Board, Asher's Chocolates
• David G. Benton, Vice President and General Manager, The Rittenhouse Hotel and Condominium Residences
• Robert W. Bogle, President and CEO, The Philadelphia Tribune
• Nicholas DeBenedictis, Chairman and CEO, Aqua America, Inc.
• Honorable Nelson A. Diaz, Cozen O'Connor
• John H. Estey, Esquire, Ballard Spahr
  
• Rhonda R. Cohen, Esquire
• David L. Hyman, Esquire, Managing Partner, Kleinbard, Bell & Brecker, LLP
• David Newhart, General Manager, The Inn at Penn
• Jonathan Newman, CEO and Chairman, Newman Wine and Spirits
  
• Marsha R. Perelman, President, Woodforde Energy Inc.
  
• Fred A. Shabel, GPTMC Chairman Emeritus, Comcast Spectacor
• Honorable Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia
  
• Meryl Levitz, President and CEO, GPTMC
  

GPTMC Funding Sources

• Philadelphia County hotel tax
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• Delaware River Port Authority
• William Penn Foundation
• Independence Foundation

Meryl Levitz
President & Chief Executive Officer
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

As president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), Meryl Levitz is responsible for expanding Philadelphia’s regional tourism, worth $6.8 billion in direct visitor spending and accounting for more than 177,000 regional jobs. Under Levitz’s leadership, the number of overnight leisure visitors has risen 55% between 1997 (when GPTMC began its first ad campaign) and 2005.

For Levitz, the key to building the economic engine of tourism is partnership – increasing visitor spending by bringing together groups with similar interests to develop promotional programs to reach high-yield markets. Partnerships with the hospitality community, arts and cultural institutions, restaurants and county visitor bureaus have proven to be vital to the success of the regional tourism industry.

GPTMC implements integrated marketing strategies to build image and visitation, using research; advertising in television, print, radio, outdoor and the Internet; and public relations in all media categories.

Levitz is active on the boards of the Travel Industry Association of America, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Independence Visitor Center, Governor’s Pennsylvania Travel and Tourism Partnership and Historic Philadelphia, Inc.

After receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Illinois, Levitz began her career as an educator but soon began promoting Philadelphia, first as co-founder of the Center City Proprietors Association in 1978 and later at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she rose to Vice President of Tourism. There, she presided over new and innovative celebrations to draw crowds to the city, as well as the opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.