Philadelphia Is America's Next Great City

PHILADELPHIA, PA (U.S. Newswire) -- The world's most widely read travel magazine, National Geographic Traveler (NGT), with more than five million international readers, has named Philadelphia America's "Next Great City" in its October issue, which hits newsstands on October 4, 2005. The article mentions that Philly is also one of the first cities to recognize the power of gay travelers.

"Philadelphia has everything we were looking for and more," explains Keith Bellows, editor-in-chief of NGT. "A fascinating mixture of old and new, street life and high culture, a booming real estate market, accessibility, innovative technology, cutting-edge restaurants, theater and music."

The "Next Great Places" issue will be unveiled on Thursday, September 29, 2005, at a reception at Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar, where National Geographic Traveler, the City of Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) will bring together civic, corporate and community leaders who have worked to make America's first great city its "Next Great City."

Spotlighting everything from the gallery-packed Old City ("arguably, the liveliest urban neighborhood between Soho in New York and SoBe in Miami"), South Philly's "addytude," the Odunde Afrikan-American Street Festival, Stephen Starr's restaurants, the development of citywide WIFI and real estate developer Tony Goldman, the nine-page article takes readers on an up-close-and-personal tour highlighting all that the city has to offer.

Written by contributing editor Andrew Nelson, a connoisseur of American cities, with photographs by Raymond Patrick, the piece paints Philadelphia as a vibrant urban destination and "a place for creative solutions and big pictures."

"This story provides an exceptional opportunity to showcase Philadelphia as a sophisticated destination," says Meryl Levitz, president & CEO, GPTMC. "While our history has always set us apart, our arts and cultural attractions, restaurants and nightspots are also impressive and well deserving of the extraordinary recognition the magazine has bestowed upon them.

The story showcases Philadelphia as the invigorating destination it is, and in doing so lends us an invaluable hand in our effort to expand the city's image beyond cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell and Rocky. We expect the readers of National Geographic Traveler to come to Philadelphia in great numbers as a result."

Although Philadelphia has received significant press coverage recently, including placements in Rolling Stone, Travel (plus) Leisure and The New York Times, the NGT piece is clearly a milestone in terms of reaching travel-savvy readers. As the largest travel title in the U.S. (versus Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel), with a total circulation of 5,327,000, the NGT story stands to significantly boost Philadelphia's image as America's not-to-miss city and greatly impact the region's tourism growth and civic pride.

If Philadelphia was the place to be for the Fourth of July, it's now the place to be, period. From last year's broadcast of MTV's The Real World to this summer's Live 8 and Elton John benefit concerts to the upcoming Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia celebration, Philadelphia has gained serious momentum that will continue thanks to this new recognition.