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The Occupancy Rate at Philadelphia Center City Hotels During
Summer 2007 was 82%, up 5% from Last Summer

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PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 23, 2007 - The Philadelphia region experienced one of its strongest summers to date in 2007, according to officials at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PCVB) and the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association (GPHA). The region was in high demand this summer�June, July and August�for three reasons: there was plenty to do here, travelers chose Philadelphia over other destinations for fun and for conventions and Philadelphia hotel prices are the best value among East Coast cities.
    
Heads In Beds:
    
The Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association is reporting a strong June, July and August for hotels in Center City and throughout the region.

According to the latest report by PKF Consulting:

  • The occupancy rate at Center City hotels this summer was 82%, up 5% from last summer. Nearly every night of the week was busy for hotels. The toughest nights to find a room were Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 
  • Throughout the five-county Southeastern Pennsylvania region, the hotel occupancy rate was 77% this summer, a 2% increase over last summer.
  • While the average daily rate at Center City hotels increased this summer by 9% compared to last summer, Philadelphia was still a better value than New York, Boston and Washington, DC. Center City hotels reported an average daily rate of $165, lower than the downtown areas in New York ($274), Washington, DC ($178) and Boston ($207).
Why Leisure Visitors Came:
    
According to the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), leisure travelers account for 75% of all visitors to the region.  Since 1997, the Philadelphia region has experienced a 63% increase in overnight leisure tourism. Those who visited for fun this summer had plenty to see and do. Summer highlights:
  • GPTMC had several tourism advertising campaigns running this summer that appealed to many kinds of visitor interests. Philly�s More advertising showed off the city�s vibrant, cosmopolitan side; Boundless Philadelphia� touted the region�s vast outdoor activities; uwishunu� highlighted Philadelphia�s unconventional side; and Historic Philadelphia promoted the city�s rich American history.
  • GPTMC conducted in-person interviews of downtown hotel guests this summer and found that nearly half (46%) of the visitors interviewed were in town for a leisure trip. Overnight leisure travelers reported spending $899 on accommodations, shopping, dining and entertainment during their two-night stay, according to a summer 2006 GPTMC study of downtown hotel visitors.
  • gophila.com, the region�s official tourism Web site, experienced its highest traffic ever this summer with a combined 1.7 million visits in June, July and August, a 33% increase over the same months in summer 2006.
Groups And Conventions Were Big Business:

According to the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB), meetings and conventions account for 40% of the total hotel rooms used in Philadelphia each year, and this summer was no exception. The PCVB continued to attract international and group travel market visitors thanks in part to new marketing programs and outreach into new markets such as Asia. Meeting and convention, international and group traveler highlights include:

  • Boosting hotel occupancy this summer, three major conventions were held on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day, typically slower periods for hotels. These groups alone filled more than 95,000 hotel rooms and brought an estimated $90 million in economic impact. In total this summer, PCVB hosted 134,466 attendees who used 246,338 total hotel room nights for a regional economic impact of nearly $300 million.
  • The PCVB also launched new visitor guides in German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, English and Chinese; increased awareness with cooperative advertising and Web promotions such as uwishunu� on Expedia, Travelocity and other sites; and hosted 11 international press trips with more than 25 journalists and tour operators from five Western European countries and Scandinavia.
  • In addition, the PCVB debuted 40 new experiential tours to group tour operators through an Experiential Group Tour brochure and a public relations campaign.
Plenty To See And Do In Philly This Summer:
    
Visitors to the region had hundreds of options for tours, sightseeing, dining, nightlife, museums, attractions and blockbuster exhibitions, including the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition at The Franklin Institute; Wicked, the blockbuster Broadway musical at the Academy of Music; the newly restored Franklin Square in Historic Philadelphia; the Liberty Bell Center, which experienced a 16% average increase in visitation during May, June and July, compared to the same time last year; and Valley Forge National Historical Park, where visitation increased by 22% this summer. For more about the region�s top attractions, visit gophila.com.
    
The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) makes Philadelphia and The Countryside® a premier destination through marketing and image building that increases business and promotes the region�s vitality. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit http://www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.
    
The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB), http://www.PhiladelphiaUSA.travel, a private non-profit membership corporation, is the official Tourism Promotion Agency for the City of Philadelphia, and the primary sales and marketing agency for the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  The PCVB competes with its counterparts worldwide for convention and tourism business. The organization has departments dedicated to the multicultural, sports, and life sciences markets.
 
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Contact:

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
http://www.gophila.com
http://www.PhiladelphiaUSA.travel
 

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Also See: Philadelphia Hotel Occupancy Hits New Milestones Prompting Center City Hotels to Invest $160 Million Upgrades, Renovations / April 2007
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