When you think about Atlantic City, warm sunshine, sand, beaches, the boardwalk - and oh yeah, casinos - probably come to mind.
A local group is hoping to change that.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, the Atlantic City Alliance, an organization that hatched last summer's "DO AC" marketing campaign, has launched new hotel specials and other deals aimed at bringing in more tourists during the end of the winter season, typically a slow time for the seaside resort town.
Winter promotion has summertime theme
Interestingly enough, though the Atlantic City Alliance's campaign is designed to increase snow boot-encased foot traffic during the colder months, the theme of the promotion is surf, sand, and summertime.
Running from February 7 up through the end of next month, March 31, the event is being called the Taste of Summer.
Special hotel room packages are on offer from Bally's, the Borgata (a property that gets a lot of attention being the current leader of the brand new New Jersey online gambling market), the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, Harrah's, Caesars Atlantic City, Resorts, and more.
Jeff Guaracino, the spokesperson for the Atlantic City Alliance, talked up the promotion to the Press of Atlantic City, saying,"The Taste of Summer packages ... are geared toward deal-oriented consumers who want a great deal, close by, at a great price."
The special deals also have packages that are aimed at bachelorette parties and toward luring in those specifically interested in Atlantic City's nightlife and night clubs - excellent indoor activities when the weather outside is frigid - which are "geared toward the 21- to 35-year-old Philadelphia/New Jersey crowd looking for live entertainment and dance clubs," Guaracino said.
Atlantic City works hard to lure gamblers, increase revenue
Atlantic City is no stranger to pulling tricks out of its hat as it works to right its long-flagging gambling economy.
For years Atlantic City was the east coast answer to Las Vegas, but as casino expansion fever has gripped the nation, nearby states like Pennsylvania and Maryland have been able to successfully divert gamblers who once would have headed for New Jersey.
The difficulties facing the Garden State's casinos, which dropped from twelve down to eleven with the closure last month of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, a property purchased at auction by a partnership between Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment that essentially saw the casino stripped for its parts, were an impetus behind last year's passage of legislation to regulate Internet gambling.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was favored for the 2016 GOP presidential nod before becoming embroiled in the ongoing "Bridgegate" scandal, signed the state's iGaming bill into law in February of 2013. New Jersey became the third state in the nation to offer real money online poker and casino games to residents and visitors, following the path blazed by Nevada and Delaware before it.
Whether visitors coming to town to take advantage of winter deals will be keen to log onto the new betting web sites is of course unknown, but getting tourists to come to town is an important first step for improving Atlantic City's economy, says analyst Joseph Weinert, who is the executive vice president of Spectrum Gaming in Linwood, New Jersey.
"What’s important for Atlantic City is the trial. It’s getting people to come here and try it out who haven’t been here in a while, or maybe have never been here," Weinert said.
