PressofAtlanticCity reports that the Atlantic City Alliance will offer $1 million a year through 2016 as a cash subsidy to try and lure conventions and meetings to the area. As announced by the alliance, the incentive program which launched earlier this year has already been extended.
Officials say that the extension should help Atlantic City compete with the likes of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Boston and other major Northeastern cities for profitable convention business.
The Alliance’s chief strategy and communications officer, Jeff Guaracino said of the extension: “The subsidy gets you in the game. A million bucks a year for the next three years gets you in the door.”
Even as the competition continues grow more fierce, one hospitality expert agreed that the incentive program should help make Atlantic City more inviting for conventions and conferences in the future.
Vice president of PKF Consulting of Philadelphia, Peter Tyson, said: “I think what it does, it puts them at the same level, or part of the way, with the bigger cities who offer such funds to get conventions to book events in their city. A million dollars is a lot of money.”
Last year, the Atlantic City Alliance launched the much touted “Do AC” marketing campaign targeted at the tourist sector. The Alliance is a private organization that receives $30 million per year from local casinos to market the city and bolster its economy.
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