Friday, January 17, 2003
In an effort to attract more visitors to the state's southernmost counties, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson was joined today by freeholder representatives from Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties to unveil the "Southern New Jersey Vacationer," the area's first regional tourism guide. The event took place at the Tuckahoe Inn in Beesley's Point.
The "Southern New Jersey Vacationer" will highlight many of the region's best assets and promote the tri-county area as a premier year-round vacation and travel destination in the absence of geographical boundaries. "No borders, no boundaries" is the publication's motto.
Levinson said he is looking forward to working with neighboring Cape May and Cumberland counties. "Rather than compete for tourists, we are combining our efforts to benefit the entire region," he said. "An increase in tourism means an increase in the number of job opportunities, which in turn helps support a healthy economy."
More than 50 million people currently visit the region each year, making tourism one of the area's major industries. According to Levinson, the partners hope their example will encourage other organizations to promote local and regional attractions, historical sites and natural resources through similar partnerships.
The first edition of the full-color, 68-page publication is expected to be distributed this spring. The partnering counties will share the costs and responsibility of distributing approximately 175,000 copies through an advertising campaign supplemented by the marketing budgets of the Greater Atlantic City Region Tourism Council and the Southern Shore Region Tourism Council.
"Southern New Jersey is more than just the shore," stated Levinson. "With the help of this new publication, we look forward to successfully marketing all that we have to offer, from January through December."