Visit AC's Tourism Strategy: More Events, Longer Stays and All of South Jersey

ATLANTIC CITY — Bringing another visitor to Atlantic City is valuable. Convincing someone who's already here to spend another night could be worth even more.

That's one of the ideas driving Visit Atlantic City's evolving tourism strategy as the organization uses major events, restaurants and attractions throughout South Jersey to encourage visitors to come more often — and stay longer once they arrive.

Visit Atlantic City President and CEO Gary Musich said the organization is increasingly thinking beyond Atlantic City's municipal boundaries when marketing the destination.

“It's all about partnerships. It's all about driving new visitation to the city,” Musich said Thursday during an appearance on Off the Press with Scott Cronick on WOND, with state Assemblyman Don Guardian serving as guest host.

“You've got to give different reasons for people to come and extend their stay,” Musich said.

The potential payoff is substantial.

Musich said that at one point, approximately 70% of Atlantic City visitors stayed for just one night.

“Imagine what happens if they stay a day and a half,” Musich said. “That's hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact.”

The strategy for making that happen includes selling visitors not only on Atlantic City's casinos, restaurants, beaches and entertainment, but on experiences available throughout the region.

“Golf, ecotourism, wineries, events, new restaurants,” Musich said. “That is all what makes people stay a little bit longer in Atlantic City and exposed to our region.”

Cape May County and Ocean County attractions can therefore become part of Atlantic City's tourism pitch.

“We benefit from everything that goes on in Cape May as well,” Musich said. “And we benefit from Southern Ocean County coming for the week, renting a home on Long Beach Island and coming and spending an evening with us.”

The relationship works in both directions.

“Cape May visitors come to visit Atlantic City to shows and restaurants and to gamble,” Musich said. “Atlantic City visitors go to Cape May.”

Visitors can also play golf, visit wineries, fish, explore beaches and visit the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, he said.

“All these different things that go on give people a reason,” Musich said. “If you wanted to focus on Atlantic City, it gives them a reason to stay.”

Events Designed to Create New Visitors

Major events are another part of the strategy.

Musich said Visit Atlantic City is deliberately working to create events that attract different audiences and, when possible, place those events during periods when tourism demand could use a boost.

“You do new types of events,” Musich said when discussing how Atlantic City develops new visitors.

He said approximately 200,000 people attended this year's Atlantic City Airshow.

“You had 200,000 people come to the air show this year,” Musich said. “We're going to keep working on making those better shows, putting more events in.”

The upcoming RÜFÜS DU SOL beach concert is another example.

Musich said the Aug. 29 show has been classified as a sellout, with attendance expected in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 people.

“The beach concert — RÜFÜS DU SOL's on the beach. Sold out,” Musich said. “It's the first big beach concert in a few years.”

The date itself is part of the strategy.

“Why do we pick the 29th?” Musich said. “Kids go back to school. It's the first weekend before Labor Day. It's typically softer. A great opportunity to put it in there.”

Other events have similarly been scheduled to help expand the traditional tourism calendar.

Musich pointed to WWE, offshore powerboat racing and the airshow as examples.

“Those are all extending our summer,” he said. “And that's what we should be doing.”

The strategy is reminiscent of the role Miss America once played when the pageant was traditionally held in September.

“Why'd you have Miss America here in September?” Musich said. “You wanted to extend your summer.”

Food Is Part of the Strategy, Too

Visit Atlantic City is also attempting to use the area's restaurant scene to generate travel.

Musich said Taste Atlantic City, which evolved from the former Restaurant Week, included approximately 80 restaurants this year.

He said survey results showed approximately 70% of respondents stayed overnight during the event.

“You see spikes in room demand,” Musich said, citing Expedia data.

Taste Atlantic City has also been expanded from a weeklong promotion into a monthlong culinary event.

“Taste Atlantic City is a month long now,” Musich said. “Instead of Restaurant Week, it's a month.”

Restaurants can determine how they participate rather than being locked into a rigid seven-day promotion.

“Use it how you think you need it,” Musich said. “You don't have to be open seven days a week.”

He said that flexibility allows restaurants to use specials on days when they most need additional business.

“It's an opportunity for a monthlong culinary experience that exposes not just Atlantic City,” Musich said, noting restaurants from neighboring communities also participated.

Selling the 'Greater Atlantic City Region'

Musich said the regional approach is intentional rather than incidental.

Visit Atlantic City developed a strategic plan roughly a year ago that included marketing the assets of the broader region.

“We put our marketing plan in place,” Musich said. “It was to talk about the assets of this area as a whole.”

That includes Atlantic City itself, but also activities that can turn a casino or convention trip into a broader South Jersey vacation.

“Again, golf is primary,” Musich said. “Whether it's fishing. Whether it's beach activities. Whether it's family travel. Ecotourism. Wineries.”

“These different interests are what people now look for in their extended stay,” he said.

Musich described it as part of the growth of “experiential travel,” in which visitors increasingly seek a collection of activities rather than a single attraction.

For Atlantic City, the ultimate objective is simple: get visitors to spend more time in the region.

“They're going to stay there,” Musich said. “And they're going to eat. And maybe they play an extra night.”

“But it extends that stay,” he added. “And the value in that is just — it's enormous.”