Philadelphia Lures Biz Travelers To Downtown

<B>Philadelphia Lures Biz Travelers To Downtown</B>

By Frank Rosci

Philadelphia's efforts to attract business travelers to downtown are paying off, with a 20 percent increase already this year in overnight business at city hotels.

The city has added 4,300 downtown hotel rooms geared toward the business traveler over the past four years, including in the first four months of 2001, said Tim Herrmann, vice president of convention sales for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"While it's sometimes hard to quantify such statistics, we have seen that the new hotels downtown have resulted in a 20 percent increase in the number of overnight business travelers in the city during the first three months of 2001, when compared with the first three months of last year," Herrmann said. The new properties have made it easier for business travelers to stay downtown without having to resort to hotels in the city's nearby suburbs, as they did in the past. The increase, he said, is not related to convention business, but is strictly individual business travel.

Reasons more business travelers now are staying overnight in downtown Philadelphia, and not retreating either to properties someplace outside the city or back to base, include a more vibrant atmosphere with many fine restaurants (175 downtown at last count) and plenty of things to see and do, Herrmann said.

Another advantage the city offers business travelers is that the airport is just eight miles away, and is either a $20 cab ride or $5 train fare into Center City, Herrmann said.

Among the newest hotels to open in Philadelphia is the 350-room Hyatt Regency Penn's Landing, which opened in December 2000.