May has been another extremely busy period for me and the team at Meet Boston. The month began with an exciting mission to NY, where we once again featured some of our amazing culinary storytellers at events and activations that brought in top travel writers and editors from the NY market. Thanks to our friends Haley Fortier, Tracy Chang, Robert Sisca and Carl Dooley for partnering with us on another memorable mission.
Our NY event coincided almost perfectly with the announcement that the MICHELIN Guide will be coming to the Greater Boston market. This is a major accomplishment and a true testament to how tirelessly the Meet Boston team, in partnership with the Cambridge Office for Tourism, has worked to elevate the culinary scene over the past few years. The world noticed and this is a true game-changer for the destination.
Last week the team was at IMEX for three days of appointments. Our booth was abuzz like never before as our delegation hosted hundreds of meetings, building new and enhanced interest in Boston as a compelling destination to book business and host events. Now the team is gearing up for IPW, which takes place in Chicago in less than 3 weeks.
These international shows are paramount as we continue to aggressively counteract anticipated declines in foreign visitation. A recent update from Tourism Economics reinforces that the strong dollar combined with negative sentiment may severely curtail international travel to the US. For now, we are cautiously optimistic that Boston can buck the trend or at least mitigate the impact. Through April, overall international passenger volume is up 13% at Logan, with Europe and Canada up 5% and 2%, respectively. Another key metric – hotel RevPAR – is also up YOY with both rate and occupancy higher than they were April of 2024. We will continue to monitor all of the data very carefully.
Finally, as many of you have heard, Meet Boston Executive Vice President Hilina Ajakaiye has accepted an exciting new position as Chief Strategy Officer with the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals. We thank Hilina for her 5 years of leadership and service, helping to develop many of our most critical initiatives around equity and inclusion, and creating more access points to the tourism industry. We wish her the best of luck in this new endeavor and look forward to future collaborations.
