Martha Sheridan, President & CEO, Meet Boston
In an interview with Invest:, Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of Meet Boston, discussed the organization’s mission to promote Boston and its surrounding areas as a top destination. She highlighted the double-digit growth in hotel revenue and Boston’s growing appeal as a global hub, underscoring the effectiveness of their marketing strategies and the city’s increasing international connectivity.
What is Meet Boston’s mission and the impact on Boston’s tourism and hospitality sector over the past year?
Meet Boston is tasked with promoting Boston and 44 surrounding cities and towns as a top destination for meetings, conventions, leisure visits, sports, and global events. Our team of nearly 60 members works both locally and internationally to engage key decision-makers about the benefits of bringing their groups to Boston. We run a $10 million annual advertising campaign to attract domestic leisure visitors and have a strong international presence through partnerships in six countries, promoting Boston globally. Over the past five years, our budget has increased from under $10 million to almost $50 million, allowing us to effectively market our city. This investment has yielded significant results, including double-digit growth in hotel revenue last year, an increase in direct flights, both domestic and international, and an enhanced international appeal, benefiting both business and leisure tourism.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth in Boston’s tourism sector?
The international sector presents the greatest potential for growth. We aim to attract more international visitors, particularly from the Middle East, Asia, and Brazil to our luxury hotel properties and for medical tourism, business travel, and academic purposes. The diversity of Boston’s attractions positions us well to tap into these markets, and we’re working on expanding our international outreach beyond our current focus on the UK and Europe.
Our primary metric for measuring international outreach success is the expansion of direct flights. For instance, JetBlue and Aer Lingus recently launched new services to Paris and Shannon, respectively, while Delta has announced new service to Barcelona and Milan, all highlighting the demand for such connections. The growth in air service, including new flights to Amsterdam, indicates that our message is resonating internationally and interest in Boston is increasing. We also utilize tourism economics data to monitor international visitation trends. We have reached or exceeded pre-pandemic levels in almost every international market, save China, markets, and efforts like our sales mission to India and media and trade mission to Brazil aim to tap into new visitor segments, anticipating the possibility of direct flights from these markets to align with growing interest.
What are some primary challenges facing Boston’s tourism industry?
Currently, the main challenge is the compression in the hotel market, with rising room rates potentially limiting our visitor pool. While this indicates a robust hotel market, and our hotel partners benefit from compression dates, it also creates difficulties for potential visitors in securing affordable accommodations. To address this, we’re shifting perceptions of Boston to promote it as an attractive year-round destination. We’re focusing on the off-peak months to host meetings, conventions, and large-scale events, like the World Figure Skating Championships next March, to leverage our more affordable rates and availability, showcasing Boston as a premier destination throughout the year.
How do you envision transforming Boston into a recognized culinary hotspot?
We believe Boston’s culinary scene is underappreciated. We boast a significant number of unique, chef-owned restaurants across all 23 neighborhoods and beyond, far outweighing the presence of chain establishments. To elevate awareness, we’ve dedicated a section of our website to showcase content from these chefs, including beautiful visuals of their cuisine and restaurants. We’re actively promoting our culinary offerings daily. Notably, we featured three of our most esteemed chefs at an event in London earlier this year and we are doing the same at media and trade events in Paris and Dublin later this year. This follows a successful format for an event we held in New York City last year where we highlighted our diverse cuisine and the culinary ambassadors best suited to share this story. Such initiatives are crucial for promoting Boston’s exceptional culinary offerings.
How are you addressing labor constraints and maintaining staffing levels?
We’re addressing this by implementing several initiatives. Firstly, we executed our third annual career fair in 2024, which attracted 80 hospitality businesses and over 400 job seekers. This event facilitates connections at all levels, from entry-level to management positions, supported by electronic and app-based continuous engagement between job seekers and employers.
Secondly, our workforce development program aims to match interns or apprentices with opportunities, especially in the hotel sector, fostering a pathway for young talent to build careers in hospitality.
The Meet Boston Foundation is a 501(c)(3) initiative designed to access funding opportunities unavailable to our parent organization. Our goals include applying these funds towards workforce development and offering scholarships to students aspiring to pursue careers in hospitality.
These initiatives underscore our commitment to viewing hospitality not just as a transitional field but as a viable long-term career path.
How are you guiding your partners towards sustainable practices?
We’re collaborating with a graduate-level class at Boston University, which, after months of collaborative work, has proposed initiatives for the hospitality community to adopt sustainable best practices. It’s an ongoing effort, but we’re committed to this direction and are investing resources to further these initiatives. We anticipate sharing more developments on this front within the year.
What is your near-term outlook for Meet Boston, and what are your top priorities?
We are optimistic about Boston’s continued growth, especially with the positive trends in hotel revenue throughout 2024. Promoting Boston as a safe city, recognized as the second safest in the U.S., is paramount. This accolade not only attracts more visitors but also reassures meeting planners and event organizers and is very appealing to international audiences. We’re focused on highlighting Boston’s cleanliness and safety, alongside the expansion of retail and visitor services, particularly in emerging areas like the Seaport District, while also supporting smaller businesses citywide.
I’d also like to emphasize the growing importance of sports tourism. Boston is increasingly chosen for significant events, like the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships and the inaugural NHL Four Nations Face Off. As a World Cup city for 2026 and a key location for America’s 250th celebration, we’re poised to leverage these opportunities to attract even more visitors, celebrating Boston’s historical significance and its vibrant present.
