As we close out this snowy February, Meet Boston is so proud of how the inaugural Boston Frostival was executed and received. Frostival will indeed be an annual event, representing our dedicated efforts to program winter in new, fun and dynamic ways. From the drone shows in December to the Copley Lodge and Greenway Ferris Wheel this month – and the upcoming Femme Fête wine festival – we accomplished exactly what we wanted to. We launched the Lodge with an event for digital creators on February 5 and that generated some exceptional content right out of the shoot. We were thrilled to have creators from the Black Travel Alliance (BTA) join for that event as part of an ongoing partnership between Meet Boston and BTA. Huge shout-out to Kate Davis and Ryan Woods for spearheading this initiative, and to our visitor services team for providing such a friendly and professional presence at the Lodge throughout the 3 weeks. Our marketing, communications, and partnership teams all played critical roles in the tremendous success of the program. 

I was honored to emcee the press conference earlier in the month to announce that the FIFA Fan Fest this summer will be at City Hall Plaza. It was great to be joined by the Mayor and Governor, and of course our friends from FIFA Boston 26, to make this exciting announcement. We are hoping that the central Fan Fest will host watch parties for up to 16 days, and be supplemented by other gameday activations across Greater Boston. 

 

 

Dine Out Boston is back! Despite the intense weather, our biannual restaurant week program began on Sunday, February 22, and will run through March 7. I was excited to join Chef Delio Susi, Jr. for a segment on The Hub Today to promote Dine Out. Visit dineoutboston.com to browse menus and make reservations today. And don’t forget about the Dine Out Boston auction; bid for good on $100 gift cards, with proceeds this winter going to the West End Museum. 

Thanks to all who attended our Partner Academy last week at Fenway. Building on the success of our previous event at the MCEC, we again hosted a conversation about welcoming the world to Boston for the World Cup, with an emphasis on providing world-class hospitality. Thank you to our partners from the City of Boston, TourMappers, Mandarin Oriental and The Commonwealth Seminar for participating on the panel with me. We are seeing some very strong advanced booking numbers for June and July during World Cup and Tall Ships, with total bookings – transient and group – up over 20% YOY. 

Finally, we've launched season 3 of the Boston Found podcast with two new episodes on Frostival and FIFA World Cup. Our third episode comes out next week with Dr. Noelle Trent, President of the Museum of African American History.

Our next partnership event will be our Open House on March 4 at MGM Music Hall Fenway. Please RSVP today. We hope to see you there.  

Apart from Dine Out Boston, here's what else is going on: 

February 28: Femme Fête 

February 28: 17th Annual African American Ball

Through February 28: Tunnel of Love

To learn more about occupancy rates and travel trends, click the button below.

Martha J. Sheridan

President and CEO

Meet Boston

1 (888) SEE-BOSTON | meetboston.com