One of the leaders of Philadelphia’s successful LGBT campaign is bringing his years of local tourism expertise to one of the city’s neighbors.
Jeff Guaracino, vice president of communications at Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Campaign, will take on the role of chief strategy officer at the Atlantic City Alliance starting mid-April.
Guaracino, 38, joined GPTMC in 2001 as director of communications and was promoted to his most recent position in 2006.
“I oversaw media relations and social media but also editorial, which is the words, pictures and video we use in media, our website and our advertising,” he said of his job responsibilities.
He also worked on the “special markets” segment, with outreach to the Canadian, Hispanic and gay and lesbian communities, and oversaw promotions for special events such as Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve.
Guaracino came to the agency just days after the 9/11 attacks, at a time when travel was not high on most Americans’ to-do lists.
His first campaign with GPTMC was the “Philly’s More Fun When You Sleep Over” initiative, cited as a highly successful tool to boost the city’s post-9/11 hospitality industry.
“Seeing how a destination like Philadelphia can be built up through image-building, how jobs can be created through great tourism marketing, how people can feel better about the city in which they live, is just terrific,” he said. “The huge impact that tourism can have on a city is one of the biggest lessons I learned here.”
Guaracino was one of the figures at the helm of the “Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay” effort to attract LGBT travelers to the city.
The campaign, launched in 2003 in conjunction with the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus, of which Guaracino was a co-founder, went on to win awards and allowed the city’s reputation as an LGBT-friendly destination to flourish.
“We’re on the map now,” Guaracino said. “Before we weren’t on the top-20 list of most-visited LGBT destinations and today we’re in the top-10 as most visited for leisure and business, which is terrific. No matter where people go in the world, in terms of gay tourism, Philadelphia is always mentioned.”
Guaracino said Philadelphia is often used as a case study for other cities interested in attracting LGBT travelers, such as Tel Aviv, Israel, which cited the local tourism initiative when it launched its own campaign three years ago.
In 2007, Guaracino authored a book on LGBT tourism and is currently vice chair of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association.
“I didn’t get just a job from GPTMC, I got a career,” he said. “I feel like I’ve grown up here in a lot of ways. I’ll miss the people very much but I feel like I’m not necessarily leaving them behind: The people I’ve worked with and all that I’ve learned and all that people have taught me will be a part of helping me shore up the Atlantic City shore’s tourism efforts.”
Created through legislation approved last year, the nonprofit Atlantic City Alliance aims to enhance awareness of the city’s offerings to potential travelers.
Guaracino said its structure is modeled in part after GPTMC, and its sister organization, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, is loosely based on Philadelphia’s Center City District.
“Our whole idea is to begin marketing Atlantic City as a year-round destination, both inside the casinos and outside,” he said. “It’s very much like what we’ve done at GPTMC: We’ll be working on advertising, public relations, through social media like Facebook, which wasn’t around when GPTMC started. We’ll be shining a spotlight on the gay scene in A.C., the dining, the shopping, the businesses, the beaches.”
The Alliance’s inaugural campaign will debut next month.
Guaracino will live in Atlantic City but will also maintain a residence in Philadelphia.
“I’m not completely leaving Philadelphia but I do feel it’s important to be in Atlantic City to understand how the city works,” he said. “When you really believe in a place, you move there and you become a part of the community. I’m really looking forward to staying part of the Philadelphia GLBT community, but also being a part of Atlantic City’s GLBT community.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].