The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau announced 40 new “experiential” tours for groups that include behind-the-scenes looks at some of the region’s most popular attractions and events.
“These specially-created VIP experiences for meeting and convention attendees, their spouses and partners or travel companions, offer opportunities to paint a mural in a city known for its 2,500 murals, tour historic Independence Hall after hours, or become sculptors, actors, Mummers, bakers, paleontologists, antiquers, artists and marine biologists as they join hands-on, behind-the-scenes and immersion tours throughout the region,” says the CVB.
“Visitors are looking for much more in-depth, engaging and immersive experiences when they travel,” said Jack Ferguson, executive vice president of the CVB. He added:
“Planners can easily tailor a tour to the specific professions of their attendees.”
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a docent leads visitors on a private tour followed by a painting class. A visit to Longwood Garden’s Research and Production Greenhouse gives participants a chance to learn how the horticultural showplace plans and maintains its 1,000+ acres of landscaped grounds and 20 indoor and 20 outdoor gardens.
“These tours are really tremendous opportunities to explore artifacts too fragile to be regularly on display,” said Brian Simard, director of museum services at The Academy of Natural Sciences, whose tour includes items such as original plant specimens from the Lewis and Clark expedition and fossils of the first dinosaur skeleton discovered by humans.
Report by David Wilkening
