Philly Tourism Board Builds on Its Success Attracting Black Tourists
Photo Credit: The 12-foot bronze statue of Philadelphia boxing legend Joe Frazier sits directly outside of the Xfinity Live! complex. Visit Philadelphia is still seeing success from its year-old black-centric video series. Visit Philadelphia
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Even in 2018, many travel companies still hesitate to engage people of color through marketing. Those companies, which are leaving money on the table, could take a cue from Visit Philadelphia's long-running video series featuring a member of The Roots.
Philadelphia's tourism board has seen continuous success from a black-centric video series over the past year, and now, on the heels of that visibility, the board will expand its efforts to market to people of color.
The organization will launch its first integrated marketing campaign targeting Latino travelers in 2019, although details are yet unavailable. "We're still in the early planning phase, but have assembled a local advisory committee and completed our U.S. Latino travel research," said Visit Philadelphia's new president and CEO Jeff Guaracino by email. Guaracino just took over a few weeks ago for Meryl Levitz, founding president and CEO, who spent 40 years promoting Philadelphia tourism.
According to Longwoods International data, Greater Philadelphia received approximately 2.3 million Latino visitors in 2017, 5.3 percent of total visitation, and the goal is to build on that. For seven years, Visit Philadelphia has employed a staff member dedicated
