June 28, 2018. Our program featured Michael Stershic who is the President of Discover Lehigh Valley. The organization exists to promote and develop the Lehigh Valley as a leisure and business travel destination. Their mission is to get people to come here, spend their money, and go home to tell others about their great experience. A total of over 15 million visitors combine to spend an estimated $2.2 billion annually. The largest percentage of money is spent on recreation including the casino, baseball, arts, and culture. Our area is geographically accessible to large amounts of people. The Valley is an easy day-trip from a variety of metropolitan areas. There are 24,000 people involved in tourism-related ventures and the industry generates $480 million in federal, state, and local taxes. The four major markets pursued are leisure, meetings and conventions, group travel, and sports. Discover Lehigh Valley has a budget of $3 million. Their marketing team excels at social media and sports over 250,000 followers. Their web page receives over a million hits each month. Many people use the web site event calendar to plan their travels. Their success has a lot to do with the product they sell. The Lehigh Valley has a lot of consistent nighttime entertainment, the PA Shakespeare Festival, the Bach Choir, wineries, high quality restaurants, and other unique attractions. Check out their site at DiscoverLehighValley.com.
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