Points on joining tourism agencies

Combining Philadelphia's two tourism agencies - the one that markets to conventions and the other that markets to leisure travelers - would net a million dollars a year in combined savings, Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz wrote in a report issued last month.

That estimate might be low, said Meryl Levitz, who has headed Visit Philadelphia as it has expanded leisure tourism since its inception in 1996.

Whatever tensions existed in the past, Levitz's agency and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau are now working well together. Any decision to combine shouldn't be undertaken without further study, Levitz said.

"You don't just go, 'Poof, now you're one,'" she said.

"It's going to cost a lot of money to do the study and there are going to be some one-time costs, so a cost-savings might not be the first thing you see."

Question: How is Butkovitz's estimate low?

Answer: My understanding is that the million really would be on the administrative side. I don't believe the controller's study looked at the savings there could be on the marketing side. How many ad campaigns do you need? How many websites do you need?

Q: How are the agencies working together?

A: Our 'Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay' campaign has been used by [the convention bureau] for LGBT conventions and events. We now have a joint fund of $500,000 that we are applying to nine different markets [including] 'convention conversion.'

Q: What is that?

A: We want convention attendees to come back as leisure guests. We also want them to come early and stay late the next time they come for a convention. The hotels are so excited about it, they want a version for their own hotel-specific conventions.

Q: In a statement, you said you are cooperating with the district attorney's investigation into the misappropriation of $210,000 from Visit Philadelphia. After your chief financial officer resigned, you discovered money was missing. She paid it back. Your agency did not press criminal charges. What was your emotional reaction to the issue?

A: Protectiveness was the main emotion. You want to do everything you can to make sure your agency goes forward in the strongest way possible. Mother bear, bear cub.

Q: Did you feel betrayed?

A: You have kind of a founder's syndrome where you assume that everybody in the organization has the same passion for the organization. When you find that's not 100 percent true, it's a bit of a shocker.

Q: How did you deal with your staff?

A: A leader has to be willing to be a buffer and to keep [the staff] from the distractions. We have a problem and we're going to solve this. While we are doing that, it's really important that we don't lose a mile and a minute [from the mission.]

Q: Favorite tourist spot?

A: Independence Mall early in the morning. There's something magical about it when you look around and you realize, corny as it sounds, you are walking where they walked. It was normal, average people, who got together, along with people who risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to make this [nation] happen. When the signs of the modern city are sort of muted, it's easier to get yourself into the moment, and I really love that.

Title: Chief executive.

Home: Cherry Hill.

Family: Husband, Len; sons, Michael, 40; Ian, 38.

Diplomas: University of Illinois, bachelor's, master's in English, secondary education.

To start: Taught high school English.

Assigned reading: A Separate Peace, by John Knowles.

Resume: Cofounded what is now Center City Proprietors Association. Moved into tourism through directing event planning at Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Challenge: Balancing work with caring for her husband, who has battled cancer for six years.

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Where: Center City.

Official name: Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corp.

Employees: 53.

Budget: $11.4 million.

Funding: Hotel tax.

Bragging point: Hotel occupancy from leisure tourists rose to 924,000 nights in hotels in 2013 from 254,000 in 1997.

Starting Monday: New vice president of hotel initiatives to build hotel occupancy. EndText

Meryl Levitz: Managing when a CFO misappropriates funds. www.inquirer.com/jobbing

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