New Jersey has always presented a paradox—one that’s full of surprises. It has no large city but is the state with the highest population density, with chunks of it part of sprawling metro New York and metro Philadelphia.
Yet it is still very much the “Garden State,” a nickname coined in the 19th century when it fed the two metro areas. It has 30 state parks, many of them Revolutionary War sites, 11 state forests and more than 140 golf courses. Along the Atlantic Coast are 127 miles of beaches.
Its number of wineries has increased by a third in just a few years to 30, and it has two new indoor waterparks.
Meanwhile, fresh meetings hotels are gracing the scene, making the state increasingly well equipped for a variety of groups.
Atlantic City
While casino revenue might be down across the country, Atlantic City is fighting back and benefiting from its investments in ongoing revitalization, product diversification and strategic marketing, not to mention green initiatives such as the recent installation of the country’s largest single-roof-panel array at the Atlantic City Convention Center.
Over the last year or so, $1.5 billion was invested in non-gaming hotels and resorts as well as in improvements and expansions to the destination’s venerable casino properties. Atlantic City also has new air and rail service.
The city that is “Always Turned On” held its first annual Atlantic City Restaurant Week in late February with more than 70 restaurants participating, 50 extending the period because of its popularity. With more than 20 events, the inaugural TD Bank Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival will be held at Harrah’s four casino resorts July 30 to Aug. 2.
Its many golf courses gained recognition in March when ForbesTraveler.com ranked Atlantic City sixth among the Top Ten Golf Cities in America.
“More and more travelers and meeting planners are discovering the ease and affordability of Atlantic City,” says Jeff Vasser, president of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority (ACCVA), explaining that although tourism numbers are on the decline nationally, destinations like Atlantic City are proving that consumers are ready to make alternative plans instead of forgoing travel plans.
For the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2008, the number of occupied room nights by attendees meeting at the Atlantic City Convention Center significantly increased, according to the ACCVA.
With 500,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, the convention center boasts the biggest floor from Atlanta to Boston. Under construction is a new 1,200-space parking garage that will serve the center, the rail terminal and the Atlantic City Outlets-The Walk.
The ACES (Atlantic City Express Service) train service debuted in February, providing weekend service from NYC’s Penn Station to the rail terminal, with a stop at Newark. Spirit Airlines began daily service from Boston Logan May 1, and AirTran will start twice-daily service from Atlanta June 11 and weekend service from Orlando June 12.
One Atlantic, a new special events center with 10,000 square feet of indoor space, is expected to open by year’s end atop the Pier Shops at Caesars.
New hotels and expansions to existing properties were unveiled last year.
The $400 million, non-gaming Water Club, with 800 rooms and 18,000 square feet of meeting space, opened last June, completing a two-phase, $600 million expansion of the Borgata, which debuted a few years ago to significantly diversify the client mix in town.
Harrah’s Atlantic City unveiled its 960-room, 44-story Waterfront Tower early last year, bringing the total number of guest rooms at the hotel to 2,590.
Last fall, Trump Taj Mahal rolled out a new 786-room tower, completing a $250 million project that included the renovation of the existing 1,250-room casino hotel.
Tropicana Casino and Resort also unveiled additions in 2008, including its Havana Rooftop Slots and Rumba Lounge.
Also last year, the 206-room Courtyard by Marriott opened in May, and the Boardwalk’s first non-gaming boutique hotel, the 331-room Chelsea, with a 4,400-square-foot ballroom, opened in July.
Meanwhile, Pinnacle Entertainment has reportedly backed out of its proposed $1.2 billion casino resort on the site of the Sands Casino, and there is no further word on MGM Mirage’s proposed $4.5 billion-plus resort. However, construction is under way on Revel Entertainment’s $2 billion casino resort near the Showboat, expected to open in 2011.
Southern Shore/Cape May
South of Atlantic City is Cape May County, a peninsula with three main communities along its 30 miles of beaches: Ocean City, Cape May and Wildwood.
Wildwood boasts the 260,000-square-foot Wildwoods Convention Center overlooking the ocean on the Wildwoods Boardwalk. The center features a 75,000-square-foot exhibit hall and meeting space that includes a 20,000-square-foot ballroom.
“We have beach, boardwalk and Victoriana, and a diversity of events that can add to the meeting,” says Diane Wieland, executive director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism.
Meeting delegates, Wieland says, can tour Victorian Cape May and visit lighthouses in Cape May and Wildwood, or head to unique attractions such as Leaming’s Run Gardens, the Wetland Institute, Historic Cold Spring Village, the Naval Air Station Wildwood Museum and the Cape May County Zoo.
“Cape May is also a great place for birding and other nature-based activities,” she says. “And whale-watching tours or a round trip across the Delaware Bay on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry gives the delegates a chance to spend time on the water.”
Recognized as the country’s oldest seashore resort, the whole city of Cape May is a National Historic Landmark. Its hotels include The Southern Mansion, which dates to 1860 and features meeting space for 60; Congress Hall, which dates to 1816 and has a 3,800-square-foot ballroom; the oceanfront Grand Hotel, which can handle banquets for 500; and The Flanders, which can handle groups of 300.
Among the other options are Ocean City’s Port-O-Call Hotel, accommodating groups of up to 100 people, and Avalon’s Golden Inn, which offers 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
Central Jersey Shore
North of Atlantic City, Ocean and Monmouth counties provide a 90-mile coastline escape, home to boardwalks and amusement pier beaches.
“We’re more than the shore. People don’t realize that we have one of the nation’s largest amusement parks at Six Flags Great Adventure, which is home to the largest outdoor safari outside of Africa and is minutes from the beach, or the Monmouth Park Racetrack, with world-class horse racing,” says Danny Cappello, executive director of the Jersey Shore Region Tourism Council.
He adds that many destinations in the region are less than an hour from New York City (the farthest is two hours away), and they are conveniently accessible by mass transportation.
The 20-plus communities in the area include Asbury Park, home to a boardwalk, restaurants, the restored Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall, and the Stone Pony, featuring up-and-coming Jersey rock bands; Long Branch, known for its Pier Village oceanview restaurants along the boardwalk; and Red Bank, the SoHo of the Jersey Shore, with upscale shopping and the Count Basie and Two River theaters.
Notable meetings properties include the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel at Asbury Park, with more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space, and the Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch, featuring 40,000 square feet of meeting space accommodating up to 1,000 people.
Meadowlands Liberty Region
Billboards began to spring up last year along Interstate 95 between Boston and Washington, D.C., with the message, “Walk, Gawk and Squawk—Discover the Meadowlands Liberty Region.” The area has much to gawk and squawk about.
“We have world-class sports, world-class landmarks and world-class activities all within 20 minutes of New York, with room rates that are at least $70 or $80 below those of New York,” says Ron Simoncini, spokesperson for the Meadowlands Liberty CVB.
Stretching from the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., south to Jersey City, the area features more than 8,000 hotel rooms, and it is home to numerous attractions, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the Liberty Science Center and an Audubon trail that is located in one of the Eastern Seaboard’s largest bird sanctuaries.
The Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford encompasses Giants Stadium; the Izod Center, home to the NBA’s New Jersey Nets; and the Meadowlands Racetrack. A total of $4 billion is being invested at the complex, including new roads and infrastructure.
The 82,500-seat Meadowlands Stadium, the new home of the New York Giants and New Jersey Jets, opens in fall 2010. Also under construction is Meadowlands Xanadu, a 4.8 million-square-foot family entertainment, sports, retail, office and hotel complex slated to open in April next year. It will include indoor skiing and other activities ranging from mountain climbing to rollerblading and surfing.
In nearby Secaucus, the Meadowlands Exposition Center, 12 minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport, serves up 61,000 square feet of exhibit space and five additional meeting rooms.
The 429-room Westin Jersey City Newport opened on Jersey City’s waterfront in February. Located adjacent to the Newport Centre Mall, the property has 30 meeting rooms totaling 20,500 square feet, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom.
The riverfront W Hoboken, with 225 rooms and more than 5,700 square feet of meeting space, debuted in March.
In December, a Homewood Suites by Hilton with 4,000 square feet of meeting space was unveiled in East Rutherford.
Six miles from the Meadowlands Sports Complex, the 260-room Crowne Plaza Newark Airport, which has 6,000 square feet of meeting space, opened last November after undergoing a $10 million renovation and conversion from a Four Points by Sheraton.
Central New Jersey
Farther south is New Brunswick, home of Rutgers University. One end of the revitalized downtown has the IACC-certified 248-room Heldrich Hotel & Conference Center, which opened a couple of years ago with 25,000 square feet of meeting space, and the other end features the 288-room Hyatt Regency New Brunswick, with 33,000 square feet of meeting space.
“Across the street we have the theater district, with three theaters with live performances, plus the Stress Factory Comedy Club,” says Joe Di Girolamo, director of sales and marketing at the Heldrich, which is managed by Benchmark Hospitality International. “We have a dozen restaurants nearby, some of the best in the state, and we’re only three blocks from the train station, so it’s easy to get here from New York.”
Recently, a partnership that includes The Heldrich, restaurants and attractions launched a new website, www.newbrunswickrocks.com, in order to promote the area.
In nearby Edison, the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center offers more than 150,000 square feet of exhibit space and a 15,000-square-foot conference center.
The Skylands
New Jersey’s northwest is known as the Skylands, a five-county region comprising Morris, Sussex, Warren, Hunterdon and Somerset.
The region is home to lakes, rivers, farms, small towns and nine wineries, in addition to two national parks: the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area and Morristown National Historic Park. Morris and Somerset counties are less than one hour from New York City, and Hunterdon County is less than an hour from Philadelphia.
“Here you are in the great outdoors but it is very accessible,” says Giulia Iannitelli, executive director of the Skylands Tourism Council. “You can go rafting on the Delaware River and ballooning in Phillipsburg.”
Down through its southwestern portion in Somerset County, home to pharmaceutical and financial services companies, snakes Interstate 287, packed with meetings options.
Basking Ridge features the Olde Mill Inn, with 16,000 square feet of meeting space; Dolce Basking Ridge, with more than 20,000 square feet of function space; and Hotel Indigo Basking Ridge (the former Inn at Somerset), with 2,250 square feet of meeting space.
Farther south in the Bridgewater-Somerset area is the Bridgewater Marriott, with 14 meeting rooms, including an 8,600-square-foot ballroom. The Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center–Somerset has 31,500 square feet of meeting space, and the 439-room Crowne Plaza Somerset-Bridgewater, converted from a Marriott in late 2007, has 14,000 square feet of function space.
Also in Somerset, the Garden State Exhibit Center has more than 62,000 square feet of exhibit space and an adjoining Doubletree hotel.
In the Sussex County town of Vernon, less than 50 miles from New York City, is Intrawest’s Mountain Creek ski and summer resort, featuring a waterpark and accommodations that include a hotel with 4,000 square feet of meeting space.
Vernon is also home to the four-season Crystal Springs Resort, which boasts seven championship golf courses, a spa and more than 50,000 square feet of meeting space, most of it at its Grand Cascades Lodge, which opened in 2007 along with The Biosphere, a $7 million indoor pool complex.
Delaware River Region
Paralleling Pennsylvania much of the way, Interstate 95 and other arteries glide southwest across the state in an area known as the Delaware River Region. With its new tagline, “We’re More Than the Shore,” the area boasts more than a dozen wineries and two new waterparks.
In the north are Princeton and Trenton, the state capital, and farther southwest are the communities of Camden, Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel. Toward the shore to the east are lots of state parks, farms and options for outdoor adventure activities.
“We’re completely different than North Jersey,” says Tina Yerkes, director of product development for the Camden-based South Jersey Tourism Corp., which promotes the region. “We have the unique attractions and venues of the Camden waterfront, but we also grow the best tomatoes, cranberries and blueberries.”
The organization recently unveiled a new website, www.forevergreennj.com, devoted to ecotourism and agritourism.
With views of the Philadelphia skyline across the Delaware, the Camden waterfront boasts unique group facilities and attractions that double as off-site event venues. Options include the Battleship New Jersey; the Adventure Aquarium, with its 9,000-square-foot Currents Ballroom, which opened in late 2007; the adjacent Susquehanna Bank Center (formerly the Tweeter Center), a convertible outdoor amphitheater and indoor theater complex); and Cambell’s Field, home of the Riversharks minor-league basement team.
A $25 million, 55,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, the CoCo Key Water Resort, opened last November at the 283-room Mt. Laurel Marriott, which has 10,000 square of meeting space. The waterpark can handle groups of up to 500 people.
In West Berlin, 12 miles south of CoCo Key Water Resort, is Sahara Sam’s Oasis indoor waterpark, promoted as the state’s first free-standing indoor waterpark. The $23 million, 58,000-square-foot attraction opened in March and has party rooms, the largest holding up to 325 people.
Meanwhile, the 180-room Westin Mount Laurel debuted last summer, the first full-service hotel to open in the area in almost 15 years. It offers 25,000 square feet of meeting space and can accommodate functions for up to 1,000 people. The new 154-room aloft Mount Laurel, with 5,400 square feet of meeting space, is scheduled to open this fall.
Near Trenton, the 123-room Element Ewing is slated for completion this fall. The property will offer 2,900 square feet of meeting space.
Princeton has three IACC-certified properties: the 302-room Princeton Marriott Hotel and Conference Center at Forrestal, the 364-room Wyndham Princeton Forrestal Hotel and Conference Center and the 100-room Chauncey Conference Center.
For More Info
Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority 609.449.7100
www.atlanticcitynj.com
Cape May County
Department of Tourism 609.463.6415 www.thejerseycape.com
Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority 609.729.9000 www.wildwoodsnj.com
Jersey Shore Region Tourism Council 732.303.5984 www.shoreregion.com
Meadowlands Liberty CVB 201.605.1059 www.meadowlandslibertycvb.com
Monmouth County Department of Economic Development and Tourism 732.431.7476 www.visitmonmouth.com
New Jersey Tourism Commission 609.777.0885 www.state.nj.us/travel
Ocean County Tourism 732.929.2000 www.oceancountytourism.com
Princeton Regional CVB 609.924.1776 www.visitprinceton.org
Skylands of New Jersey Tourism Council 908.213.9176 www.skylandstourism.org
Somerset County Business Partnership 908.218.4300 www.scbp.org
South Jersey Tourism Corporation 856.757.9400 www.visitsouthjersey.com
