Program areas at PHLCVB
Convention sales the phlcvb's Convention sales program is charged with helping to drive overnight visitation by booking and servicing meetings, conventions, trade shows and sporting events into the Pennsylvania Convention center, member hotels, and off-site venues. This activity is critical to the success of Philadelphia's tourism industry, as meetings and conventions are longer- term pieces of business that provide a strong foundation for Philadelphia's economy and provide security for Philadelphia's hospitality-related jobs. The Convention sales function also includes three key verticals - phl diversity, phl life sciences, and phl sports - as well as data and analytical research that supports the Convention sales function. In fiscal year 2023, Philadelphia's hospitality industry continued its recovery from the impact of covid-19, with performance metrics steadily improving across all categories. The results of the phlcvb's 2023 events are: -the phlcvb held 224 events, including 19 citywide events (over 2,000 room nights on peak), with 434,300 attendees, resulting in 513,400 room nights and 621.6 million in total hotel room revenue. -the phlcvb secured 223 future events, including 14 citywide events, projected to bring an estimated 825,000 attendees to Philadelphia, generating approximately 480,000 total estimated room nights. Phl life sciences: phl life sciences is the first and only division of a cvb in the country focused on life sciences meetings. The division works to provide access to Philadelphia's substantial healthcare and higher education community of academics, medical and nursing leaders, healthcare experts, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and related venture capital contacts. Division highlights include: -in fiscal year 2023, phl life sciences hosted 52 events with 79,745 attendees, and 170,690 room nights. The division booked 56 conventions for future years with an estimated 41,399 attendees and 97,921 room nights. -phl life sciences welcomed upwards of 10,000 attendees for american nurses credentialing center's (ancc) magnet and pathway conference at the Pennsylvania Convention center. The conference celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of nurses on the front lines and awards special designations for health care workers. The Philadelphia region is proud to have 17 magnet certified institutions. -american college of rheumatology (acr) convergence 2022 welcomed over 7,800 attendees and exhibitors to the Pennsylvania Convention center from november 10-14. Acr serves more than 7,700 specialty physicians, health professionals, and scientists worldwide. The annual meeting offered in- person, virtual, and on-demand opportunities, providing accessible options for all. Phl sports: for more than 30 years, phl sports has brought major sporting events and conventions to Philadelphia. The phl sports advisory board, chaired by Philadelphia eagles president don smolenski, is comprised of 60 sports leaders, including the city's collegiate athletic directors, professional team executives, and city of Philadelphia officials, among many others. Phl sports engages a wide range of community partners to promote and position Philadelphia as a top destination for marquee sporting events. Division highlights include: -march madness will return to Philadelphia in 2026. -on june 16, 2022, Philadelphia secured one of the 11 host city spots in the united states for the fifa world cup 2026. The event will be part of an incredible sports calendar that year, including the pga championship, major league baseball (mlb) all-star game, and the ncaa men's basketball tournament. -in fiscal year 2023, phl sports booked 36 future sporting events with an estimated 611,593 attendees and 209,463 room nights. "a booking highlight from 2023 is wrestlemania 40, which will be held on april 6 and 7, 2024. The week-long wwe extravaganza has grown into one of the country's biggest sporting events, including six major events at three venues over five days, including the two-day title show at lincoln financial field. Phl diversity: the phlcvb was one of the first cvbs in the u.s. to establish a division highlighting the destination as a diverse, equitable, and inclusive location for meetings, events, conventions, and Visitors. For more than 30 years, phl diversity has been connecting meeting planners to local diverse businesses, suppliers and community leaders with shared values and goals who can help facilitate community engagement programs or serve as speakers and experts. Division highlights include: -phl diversity received the 2022 corporate award from the national coalition of black meeting professionals (ncbmp) at its annual conference. The corporate award is presented annually to an organization that has demonstrated a record of making a strong positive impact on people of color within the meetings and events industry. -the zeta phi beta sorority, inc., one of the country's largest women's service organizations, ended their 2022 grand boul on sunday, july 24, 2022, in Philadelphia. 6,000 members of the historically african american sorority gathered at the Pennsylvania Convention center for a week that included ceremonies, award presentations, a massive expo marketplace, a mary j. blige concert, and much more. -phl diversity hosted 19 events with 14,420 attendees and 21,561 room nights. The division booked 21 conventions for future years with an estimated 29,581 attendees and 25,095 room nights.
Global tourism "in fiscal 2023, the global tourism team in Philadelphia was supported by five in-country representation offices who have a presence in eight overseas markets. "in fiscal 2023, inbound overseas travel finally resumed, and global Visitors were back in Philadelphia's airport, hotels, attractions, shops, and restaurants. Overseas visitation to Philadelphia reached 444,200 in fiscal 2023,resulting in 332.4 million in spending. These Visitors contributed an economic impact of 548.5 million and directly supported 4,664 jobs. "global tourism activity highlights include the team attending 17 global tradeshows, training 1,960 travel agents, and creating 34 multi-week marketing campaigns, resulting in over 500 media engagements.
Marketing & communications the marketing and communications function supports sales and business development initiatives for the phlcvb and the Pennsylvania Convention center by promoting Philadelphia and the region through a comprehensive website and fully integrated marketing, advertising, public relations, social media and digital communication strategy. The phlcvb's efforts target meeting planners, influencers, Convention attendees, domestic group tour operators, overseas leisure travelers and travel trade professionals. These activities all help to support the efforts of the Convention sales and global tourism programs in driving overnight visitation to Philadelphia through creative messaging and storytelling. Key highlights include: phlcvb marketing campaigns: "the phlcvb used a variety of paid media channels targeting meeting and Convention, domestic group, and travel trade audiences. This year, the team expanded its focus from regional to national campaigns with attention on paid content distribution opportunities (advertorials, e-newsletters, video, and premier placements). "in addition to working with traditional industry publications, the plan was diversified to include non-industry sites, including the wall street journal, forbes media, cnbc, and new york times business. Digital marketing results: "the phlcvb 's social media channels increased fans and followers by 39,643. Total fans and followers across all owned accounts totaled 371,333 over 12 accounts in 9 countries. "in fiscal 2023, the phlcvb website had 806,541 total unique visits, up 64% from fiscal 2021.
Group tour sales-673,770 the phlcvb's group tour sales program helps grow overnight visitation by connecting with domestic group tour operators. The team worked to position Philadelphia as a top us destination for group leisure travel by delivering destination updates and group-specific content to key group travel planners and actively servicing incoming group tour leads. Membership-353,733 the phlcvb's membership program, renamed the partnership program, actively engages the local business community through networking events and educational seminars designed to connect local businesses with meeting planners and Convention business. Phlcvb members are local business owners across all neighborhoods throughout the area. "fiscal year 2023 represented a year of exciting progress for the partnership department with purposeful networking and educational events aimed at strengthening the bond with valued partners. "the phlcvb had 646 total partners, with 71 new partners joining over the calendar year and a retention rate of 93%.