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To Our Board and Stakeholders,

Last week, our global tourism team gathered in Washington, D.C., to attend IPW, the travel industry's premier international marketplace and the largest generator of travel to the United States — and I am thrilled to report that the event was a smashing success for the PHLCVB.

Philadelphia’s presence was made known with the largest quadruple booth footprint we’ve had to date and an all-star delegation of PHLCVB and Philadelphia team members from China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Over three jam-packed days we were able to:

Deliver our warm Philadelphia message alongside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Sightseeing Tours, VISIT PHILADELPHIA and One Liberty Observation Deck as well as eight Pennsylvania partners
Make invaluable connections with existing and potential tour operator clients and media from over 31 countries via more than 196 pre-scheduled appointments (most appointments we’ve ever had!)
Pitch Philadelphia stories to 45 international media at the IPW Media Marketplace
Conduct a 40-minute press conference with more than 250 international and domestic media, a first for our city, in partnership with the Philadelphia International Airport and Museum of American Revolution to tell Philadelphia’s story, including the announcement of new air service from Icelandair.

What’s more, as a result of IPW’s proximity to Philadelphia this year, we were able to host over 60 top clients from more than 10 countries for multi-day FAM tours the week before and after IPW. They included:

Group Tour Operator FAMs from China, Japan, Denmark and Icelandair
VIP Tour Operator FAM of CEOs/Directors/Product Development Managers and International Reps from 8 top feeder overseas markets
Brand USA Group Tour Operator FAM from India
Multiple individual international tour operators exploring on own
Group media FAM with 16 international media representatives from UK, Germany, China, Austria, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Hungary

I am immensely pleased with the success of this year’s event and extremely proud of our international tourism team for their hard work. When it comes to ensuring that more and more international visitors are able to experience Philadelphia, our IPW efforts will pay great dividends for years to come!