As newly-appointed executive director of the
Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau, Fritz Smith will lead continued growth in tourism within Centre County. Smith is a true reflection of a hospitality expert and son of the Keystone State, aiming to promote the county’s outdoor adventure, world-class culture, unexpected history, and storied local traditions. Connect recently caught up with Smith to chat about being named executive director and his plans for rebranding the bureau on local, statewide and national levels.
What interests you about the CPCVB?
The State College region offers a fascinating mix of beautiful country, vibrant university community, and charming small town that presents a fascinating and unique challenge. We’ll look to identify new market segments and enhance the destination’s year-round appeal, particularly during the winter season.
What are your plans as executive director?
To ensure that we level the playing field in terms of investment in our destination. To get there, we’re working hard right now to make the case for a room tax increase. Of 67 counties in Pennsylvania, we have the 66th lowest rate at 2.5 percent. Creating a stable flow of revenue will allow the region to catch up from a technology standpoint and increase the amount of pure advertising and marketing dollars we employ to attract visitors. I feel like we’ve been fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
What are some of the initial steps to rebranding the CPCVB?
Always start with research—That’s what we did earlier in the year, something that my predecessor, Jeff Vasser, insisted upon. We learned through asking travelers from a 4- to 6-hour radius away from us what they thought when they heard Central PA CVB, and it turned out they thought that meant Harrisburg, Hershey, Carlisle. That’s geographically incorrect as we in Centre County are truly in the middle of the state. As you know, perception is reality, so we have work to do on this front. I’m fortunate to have a very engaged and talented marketing committee, so we’re getting great input from them and are building a plan to address.
How will a rebrand be implemented differently on local, state and national levels?
That remains to be seen and is very dependent upon our success in getting a room tax increase. Certainly, we’ll spend time initially socializing the new identity with our stakeholders, explaining the reasoning behind it, the vision, the strategy, and how it will be executed.
Are there any branding experiences you had at Visit Philadelphia that could translate to success with the CPCVB?
Visit Philadelphia is a hot bed of innovation in the destination marketing industry with a talented staff to challenge you. The important takeaways I learned there include winning over the local population as they’re our best ambassadors, creating content, finding your brand message and reinforcing that brand on all channels consistently, and keeping it simple. We went from Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing to Visit Philadelphia. The former is a mouthful to say and people’s eyes glaze over. Change the name to fit the mission—what we want people to do—makes a lot of sense.
What makes Pennsylvania an international tourism destination?
You have two significant gateway cities with airports that people from overseas can get to, including a lot of direct flights. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are both great cities with the amenities of big cities, great restaurants, walkability, history, art and cultural institutions, and professional and collegiate sports. In the rest of the state, including State College, Bellefonte and Centre County as a whole, you have beautiful outdoor scenery and recreational opportunity—great fishing, hiking and biking trails. No sales tax on clothing, which is a big deal. Our Eastern Seaboard location also makes it easy combine Pennsylvania with popular destinations like New York City and D.C. What international travelers get in the interior of Pennsylvania is authentic ‘small-town’ America with welcoming folks, charming bed and breakfasts, antique shops, and great local restaurants. It’s a very authentic American experience.
What are your plans to bring more tourists to central Pennsylvania?
The plan is very much still in development stage, but the rebrand in early 2019 will be the kickoff point.
Are there specific markets you want to reach?
Many of our visitors are from Philadelphia, D.C., New York, New Jersey, and the Harrisburg area. Basically a 3- to 4-hour drive radius. As I look at our visitation though, I think we’re not doing as well in markets to our west and north, i.e. Pittsburgh, Erie, Buffalo and even Canada, and I’d like to explore ways that we can generate more visitors from that geography.
What do you want people to know about central Pennsylvania?
That many people call this area God’s Country because of its spectacular scenery and outdoor assets. I want people to understand that while attending a Penn State football game is great fun, there are many more reasons and seasons to visit central Pennsylvania.
