A new law in Philadelphia is expected to bring more visitors to the region and could be adopted in other areas, according to tourism officials.
The new law allows the city to impose up to a 1.5% hotel room tax. Funds collected would be allocated for increased tourism promotion and for the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
“We strongly believe that marketing works. In the 10 years that funding has been available for marketing, the number of visitors has increased by nearly 5 million,” said Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. He added:
“As competition for tourists and convention business becomes more aggressive, we can not afford to have Philadelphia lag behind Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Boston, all of which spend more on marketing.â€
Report by David Wilkening
