What's the Word?
2009 Partnership Opportunities
New Partner Spotlight
Partners in the News
Inside the Bureau
Fresh Thinking
The Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau’s headquarters is packing its things and opening a brand new Visitors Information Center in the heart of downtown Harrisburg.
Located just minutes from it all, the Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau’s new office space and Visitors Information Center will be home for the bureau staff and for out-of-town guests and visitors seeking recommendations and guidance while in our region. The new “digs” will be set up with optimal space for brochures, media and other promotional materials to assist visitors with planning their stay in the area and navigating the region while here! This is yet another valuable opportunity for partners to display their business information as well as a friendly, comfortable place for visitors to learn more about what the Hershey Harrisburg region has to offer.
The new center is conveniently located between the Crowne Plaza Hotel and the Center City Bus hub along Second Street. Projected move-in date is set for late September.
You’re invited! Keep on the lookout this fall for information regarding a grand opening reception for our valued partners to join us and check out the new space!
If I may share with you, I will certainly miss 2008. It was a fairly good year for me. First and foremost, it marks the year I proposed to my soon to be wife, Heather. Secondly, I finally got the opportunity to perform some consultative and freelance work which I had always wanted to accomplish for myself and for that special client. And lastly, I returned to the tourism industry after a four year hiatus eager to serve the Hershey Harrisburg region, the bureau and its diverse partnership of fun-filled attractions, unique dining and shopping venues, community organizations and events, B&Bs, and first-rate accommodations. It’s certainly feels good to be back!
As we look ahead to 2009, once again the bureau is prepared to lead and produce new partnership programs and benefits for the upcoming Partnership Renewal Period. Each program is designed to make partnering with your bureau even more valuable. We look to define ways for you and your business to become more actively involved and play important roles through not only your participation, but in the further development of these programs. We also have some new and exciting opportunities in store for our 2009 partners providing additional support in effectively promoting their own businesses and attractions to visitors in our region. Our dedicated sales staff at the bureau is working to promote our area and its partners each day to various tourism sectors from leisure and business to sports and group tour travelers. Each sector generates positive revenue to the area’s economic climate and to individual businesses impacted directly by the influx of those visitors or groups. The creation of a greater, more successful bureau starts with the success of our valued partners.
It’s that time of year again. A new year is upon us and filled with more opportunity. We look forward to your continued partnership in 2009. It should be another good one!
Please welcome our newest partner of the Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau – The Comfort Suites Hershey Harrisburg. The Comfort Suites, newest addition of the PA Dutch Hotels, joins as a 2008 web-partner and participant of the 2008-2009 Group Tour Planner. They are currently set to break ground and open next spring in Hummelstown. The staff is now accepting meeting and group bookings and offers an array of amenities to its out-of-town guests. John Watts is the suites Area Manager. Please feel free to extend our welcome on having John, his staff and the Comfort Suites as a fellow partner.
Comfort Suites Hershey Harrisburg
300 Milroy Rd.
Hummelstown, PA 17036
Tel: 717-293-9500 email: jwatts@padutchhotels.com
GIANT Center and Hershey Theatre Among the World’s Best
Congratulations to HHRVB bureau partners Hershey Entertainment & Resorts and two of the world’s top venues and theaters, the Giant Center and the historic Hershey Theatre.
The Giant Center and Hershey Theatre, both well known locally, were recently ranked as the world’s top venues and theaters by Entertainment trade publications Pollstar and Venues Today. Both properties have made the list in previous years and are gaining some ground in the rankings. Giant Center came in at No. 40 in ticket sales last ranking and is now ranked at No. 34, beating out other major facilities around the globe and within the United States. The rankings take into account the number of tickets sold from January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008. Venues Today also ranked Giant Center at No. 11 for venues with a capacity of 10,001 to 15,000 basing their rankings on concert and event grosses from October 16, 2007 through May 15, 2008.
For the second time, the 75-year old Hershey Theatre has made it to Pollstar’s world theater list with a ranking of No. 51.
Again, we congratulate them all for these grand achievements!
Daily, Nonstop Flights to Orlando from Harrisburg International Airport
Right in time for Thanksgiving! AirTran Airways will begin new daily nonstop service between MDT and Orlando International Airport (MCO) on Thursday, November 20, 2008. The route will be served by AirTran Airways’ popular Boeing 717-200 aircraft, which seats 117 passengers (12 in Business Class and 105 in coach).
“AirTran Airways’ arrival at Harrisburg International Airport provides the region with the low cost service for which our customers have repeatedly asked. Daily nonstop service to Orlando has been a high priority for the Airport Authority and we are pleased to welcome AirTran to Central Pennsylvania. We trust the region will enthusiastically support this new Orlando service,” said Tim Edwards, executive director.
From To Flight Departs Arrives Frequency
Harrisburg (MDT) Orlando (MCO) 1002 12:02 p.m. 2:35 p.m. Daily
Orlando (MCO) Harrisburg (MDT) 1001 9:00 a.m. 11:26 a.m. Daily
For more information please visit www.flyhia.com/airtran
Getting Hungry for the Row?
Join us downtown for Harrisburg’s finest cuisines at a discounted rate – Harrisburg’s First Ever Restaurant Week. Enjoy a 3 course meal at a participating restaurant for $30.
Pamper Your Palate on Restaurant Row
September 7 – 11, 2008
It’s our mission to make your taste buds happy!
Current Restaurants participating as of 8/20: Café Fresco, Carley’s Ristorante & Piano Bar, Stock’s on 2nd, McGrath’s Pub and Restaurant, El Sol Mexican Restaurant, Raspberries California Bistro (in the Hilton) and The Fire House Restaurant.
For a list of participating restaurants and more details visit www.harrisburghello.com
The past few months have been quite busy for the bureau staff. Many sales calls have been placed to various business outlets expanding into markets for group and tour travel, meetings and conventions, sports marketing and many more. We’ve also had several staff members take part in numerous tradeshows and events throughout the U.S. in order to spread the word about the wealth of activities and attractions the region has to offer. We’ve also experienced heavy requests for our 2008 Visitors Guide. In fact, well over 9000 Visitors Guides have been distributed for the month of July.
Here’s what the Bureau has been up to the past few months:
We received 281 Travelocity inquiries in July alone.
Web site Stats for July: Page views = 104,775
*What to do/Attraction details page (landing page) and Family Fun continue to be in our Top 10 page views.
VideoGlobetrotter.com Stats – 6,943 downloads of the Hershey Harrisburg leisure video for July.
Nxtbook Media/Online Visitors Guide – In July, 275 total visits to the guide with 227 of those being NEW visitors to the book. 52 link clicks tracked for July.
Spotobe was visited 7,337 times by 6,412 unique visitors from July 18th to August 17th.
Meetings and Conventions Department
Sales Blitz performed in Philadelphia – August 12 & 13, 2008
The goal of the blitz was to represent and promote the Hershey-Harrisburg Region as a prime location destination for Philly area businesses to hold their next meeting or convention.
Twelve (12) partners participated in the blitz. Six teams of two people were organized.
The partner properties represented include:
Four Points by Sheraton
Hilton Harrisburg
Holiday Inn Harrisburg Hershey
Holiday Inn Harrisburg East
Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and Convention Center
Hampton Inn Harrisburg East
Hershey Resorts
Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau
Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course
Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey
(2 representatives from the Radisson and 2 from HHRVB made up the 12 people)
A total of 111 contacts were made during the two-day blitz, or nearly 19 total calls per team.
Group Tour Department
Pennsylvania Bus Association Annual Meeting-AC, NJ 6-16-08 to 6-20-08
Florida Motor coach Association @ Kissimmee, FL week of 7-7-08 to 7-10-08
*Congratulations to Candice Fry, Group Tour Specialist and Sales Manager, for receiving the honor of “Rookie Member of the Year” at the Florida Motorcoach Association’s (FMA) Annual Appointment Show in Kissimmee, Fl.
I recently came across a powerful article by renowned authors, Alfonso Montuori and Isabella Conti, who have been examining the “meaning of partnership” for over a decade. The authors delicately describe Riane Eisler’s (worldly known systems scientist and historian) basic principles of Partnership Social Systems and then proceed to offer examples of Partnership ways of being and doing in relationships, business, culture, education, and in connection with the environment. The connections they have mapped out have inspired me to share them with you as we continue to build upon improving bureau programs and strive for a healthy partnership filled with active, open involvement, creativity and passion for community.
Montouri and Conti suggest Partnership is much more than just working together and that the “desire” to partner is simply not enough. Successful partnerships adhere to the “all win” or how I like to view it as; “All in it – to win it” relationship. The two authors find that all parties must embrace the mindsets, values, behaviors, and interactions of the partnership to be successful. The article goes on to note the differences between a dominator model and the true partnership model. The dominator model uses rankings which clearer defines levels between parties and creates power positions that worthless energy is spent on trying to obtain. This model ultimately closes the doors on open communication, creativity and opens the door to fear and ineffectiveness within the partnership. Everyone is on an equal playing field and has a voice - the main point found in the partnership model. With no rankings in sight, each member of the partnership has the responsibility and ability to contribute on all levels of the partnership. Success requires each participant to take ownership in order to obtain its true value and worth of the relationship or partnership it is involved in.
The primary organizational principle is linking, bringing people together in mutually beneficial relationships and figuring out how individual responsibilities and contributions blend to produce extraordinary creative results. - Riane Eisler
As we move forward, we can see that open communication, equality between partners, active involvement and an accepted duty to your community can create a powerful and unbeatable partnership. We all understand the importance and economic impact tourism can have on our own businesses, the area’s business climate and local communities. As your new Partnership Director and native to the Hershey Harrisburg region, I am proud to serve you, my community and pledge every effort to produce a valuable and healthy partnership for all of those involved.
I hope you too will join us! - Justin Martsolf, Partnership Director
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