Atlantic City Rides High on a Wave of Change as Musich Takes Charge

 

Following a sunny summer which saw 24 events, conventions and conferences bring in 80,984 attendees—to the tune of 31,131 room nights and $40,359,889 in total economic impact—Atlantic City’s group market maintained full stride with a robust Q4 line-up of conventions and sporting events delivering multimillion-dollar impact.

For departing Visit Atlantic City President and CEO Larry Sieg, who is retiring at the end of this year after 40 years promoting Atlantic City tourism, this strong finish to 2024 caps a five-year run that saw him navigate the pandemic and steer the destination’s MICE industry back on course.

Succeeding Sieg, current Visit Atlantic City Vice President of Sales Gary Musich brings 25-plus years of extensive in-market sales and hospitality experience to the role and inherits a strong platform for continuing growth.

Meetings Today senior contributor Jeff Heilman spoke with Musich at IMEX America in Las Vegas this October, where the industry veteran discussed the dynamic organizational changes ahead and continuing reinvestments and other developments that are keeping Atlantic City on the front foot for the future.

Q&A With Gary Musich

Jeff Heilman: What key foundations will you be building on?

Gary Musich: Today, two years since Meet AC rebranded to Visit Atlantic City, we believe that we have the most tentative group bookings in the pipeline ever. Strategic moves that we made during the pandemic are paying true dividends, from investing in the right organizational framework to how we manage our CRM system and how we talk to customers. With a solid sales team on board, we are doing more, along with our resort partners, to keep growing and to push our pace farther out into the future.

Speaking of collaboration, what is the status of Visit Atlantic City and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) joining forces to form a single destination marketing organization?

As I am sure you know, Visit Atlantic City looks after MICE business only. We bring in around 55% of the group programs to the destination, including all Atlantic City Convention Center bookings.

The CRDA, which absorbed the former Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority (ACCVA) years ago, supports leisure marketing and tourism events, along with redevelopment projects, land use planning and beautification efforts.

Atlantic City is a partner-driven economic engine with an evolving business model of expanding products, services and offerings. Once, gaming produced 95% of our revenue, now it is around 55%, which changes how we sell the rest of the city. Our messaging and branding must also evolve, and that time is now.

Getting the entire Atlantic City business community on the same page is critical. Which, to answer your question, is poised to take a big step forward with a signed agreement in place to unite Visit Atlantic City and the CRDA.

Restoring the best disciplines of each organization, this will create a single voice and process for talking about our brand and mission. The vision includes looking at creating equity in signature events that economically support the whole destination, advocacy through the municipal and state levels, and other vehicles to tie it all together.

Larry Sieg set this initiative in motion and I am picking up the ball. Our aim is to consummate the deal by January and announce our new branding and messaging at our annual meeting in early February. Another step we took this year is expanding our board membership to include more local stakeholders.

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Then there are New York City casinos on the horizon.

That is about four years from now. NYC is a big market for us, but this is not an isolated gaming-on-gaming conversation. We are preparing now by focusing on the many non-gaming reasons to visit Atlantic City and the surrounding Atlantic County region, from top-class entertainment and celebrity chef-led dining to nearby championship golf courses, wineries and wildlife refuges. Atlantic City has a strong local dining scene, growing mural arts program and transformed neighborhoods like the hospitality-driven Orange Loop.

We have always talked about hotel rooms, meeting venues and capabilities. I want to talk more about new and different topics that are important to us personally and professionally in this more purposeful time of social and environmental consciousness, which includes highlighting our efforts in sustainability and philanthropy.

The bottom line is that we must shift the conversation to all the positive aspects, assets and attributes of the destination, which as a consolidated marketing entity, we will be able to do more effectively.

Hard to believe it was eight years ago now, but remembering still the great success of Atlantic City’s hosting of MPI’s World Education Congress in 2016, do you foresee the united platform and spirit of collaboration opening the door for like larger events?

We are already bidding on bigger group programs. Our value proposition is compelling, as more organizations are looking at second-tier cities from a cost and affordability perspective. We offer a lucrative incentive program to attract groups. Philadelphia is a partner city. We operate in different markets with different customers but benefit from working together on big events like the American Bus Association’s four-day Marketplace show in February. In 2026, the FIFA World Cup comes to Philadelphia and New Jersey, and we will be part of that.

Our resort partners are doing their part to strengthen our appeal and “reasons to choose” Atlantic City, including investing $900 million in redevelopment over the past two years.

Caesars Entertainment alone devoted $400 million to room renovations, celebrity restaurants and unique products like the permanent live Hook show at Caesars Atlantic City in partnership with Vegas-based producer Spiegelworld. MGM Resorts International invested $55 million in rebranding and renovating the non-gaming Water Club as the MGM Tower. Ocean Casino Resort (also see On the Scene below), our high-end independent brand, added new rooms for a total of 1,800 keys.

Bally’s Corp. spent $100 million reenergizing Bally’s Atlantic City. Showboat Resort spent the same amount on Island Waterpark, which opened in 2023 as one of the world’s largest indoor waterparks. Hard Rock Atlantic City, and Resorts Casino Hotel, the destination’s original gaming property from 1978, are having a great year.

These transformations also serve to expand our customer base, which is also part of the strategy.

Your many loyal repeat groups underscore true belief in Atlantic City.

That is right—to see and experience is to believe. In 2023, around 1 million people attended Atlantic City meetings, tradeshows, conventions and conferences. That is a good number anywhere and does not even include private casino-based events and shows, or other activities that we are not attached to. The more we talk about the positives and our vibrancy as a market, the more people will give us a shot.

To your point, Larry left a strong foundation to build on and I am excited for the future as we continue to give 110%, never quit, and continually reinvent Atlantic City.

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On The Scene: Ocean Views, Lasting Memories and Full-Circle Turns

This month marks the 35th anniversary of my first visit to Atlantic City, in December 1989, to see The Rolling Stones wrap their Steel Wheels tour at historic Boardwalk Hall. This summer, I kept the party going with a weekend visit to see Steve Martin and Martin Short at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City  and to experience the group offerings at Ocean Casino Resort .

The excursion included renting a bike from North Beach Mini-Golf at the northern end of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk. My 10-mile roundtrip ride along the world-famous Boardwalk, opened in 1870 to protect beachfront hotels from drifting sand, brought back a rush of touchstone memories and reflections on Atlantic City’s unassailable fighting spirit in continually winning over adversity.

I still see the delegates at the opening night beach party of MPI’s World Education Congress in 2016. Farther along the Boardwalk, past much-evolved Tropicana Atlantic City, I paused before the shuttered Atlantic Club, remembering wild times there in the 1990s and the “full circle” aspects of its history.

AC: Then and Now

Now reportedly being redeveloped into condominiums, the building, with multiple flag changes over time, was originally Steve Wynn’s Golden Nugget Atlantic City from 1980. Wynn later sold the property to Bally’s for $440 million, which he invested in The Mirage in Las Vegas, launching the destination’s mega-resort era in 1989.

As The Mirage now becomes Hard Rock Las Vegas, the legendary music-powered brand came to Atlantic City in 2018 and transformed the billion-dollar Trump Taj Mahal, from 1990, into Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

Staged at the versatile 7,000-capacity Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena, the Martin/Short comedy show exemplifies the top-class live entertainment at the rocking property, which offers memorable musical and cultural experiences for group programs.

Also debuting in 2018, Ocean Casino Resort has likewise helped to uplift Atlantic City’s image and appeal. Opened in 2012 as the $2.4 billion Revel, the integrated resort held great promise, with 3,800 rooms in two glass towers rising from a wave-like podium, only to close in 2014 in the face of mounting financial problems and other issues.

That is all far behind now. Scaled back to one tower with 1,860 guest rooms and suites, the luxurious building holds a commanding spot as an occupancy and land-based gaming revenue leader at the northern end of the Boardwalk.

Offering a dramatic sense of arrival, flying escalators ascend to an elevated vertical stack that starts with the sixth-level casino and dining floor. Level 11 houses the hotel lobby, along with the event-capable, three-acre outdoor Park, featuring sweeping ocean views, and more than 160,000 square feet of versatile space for 10 to 10,000 meeting and event attendees, including the 4,500-capacity Ovation Hall concert venue. Plus, the year-round indoor/outdoor Eclipse Pool, with private cabanas, and 40,000-square-foot
Exhale Spa + Bathhouse.

Top-End Dining

The upscale restaurant collection, each offering private dining, includes tapas-inspired Amada from Philadelphia celebrity chef Jose Garces; Italian-driven Linguini by the Sea; and Ocean Steak. Plus, two brand-new concepts from acclaimed Philadelphia chef Michael Schulson, including Pearl & Mary oyster bar and Samuel's diner, featuring an American-Jewish menu inspired by his emigree grandparents’ butcher shop in The Bronx. Groups can also enjoy cool vibes and live music at gastropub-style Villain & Saint; speakeasy-style 1927 Lounge; and Nola’s Bar & Lounge.

Introduced in July 2022 as a part of $72 million refresh, my 27th floor Contemporary Blu king room featured a pleasing beach-scape aesthetic and south-facing city and ocean views. Standing before the panoramic scene and taking in all the memories, I am already looking forward to the next chapters ahead.

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