A passionate new booster of South Jersey's charms
"My passion for our region," Devon Perry declares, "is explosive." Take her word for it: Perry, the interim executive director of Visit South Jersey, has enthusiasm to burn.
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"My passion for our region," Devon Perry declares, "is
explosive
."
Take her word for it: Perry, the interim executive director of Visit South Jersey, has enthusiasm to burn.
What her nonprofit destination-marketing organization hasn't got enough of is money.
Annual support from the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism has declined from $128,000 two years ago to the current $126,000 - even as a study commissioned by the division found tourism-industry sales rising 3.7 percent statewide, to $40 billion, in 2014.
New Jersey's contribution is partially matched, as required, by dues from about 100 members, such as hotels, restaurants, wineries, and other local attractions. The remainder of the operating budget comes from other private sources.
One grant through which Perry receives a $2,500-a-month stipend runs out at the end of February - although she says an alternative source of funding for her position recently came forward.
"Our goal," she says, "is to raise $200,000 from corporations, foundations, and other funders by June 1."
The future of Visit South Jersey is at stake.
"We want to continue to do amazing work while creating sustainable funding to stabilize the operation," Perry says. "On the scale of optimism, I'm 'quite-to-very' optimistic."
Dusk is falling on Cooper River Park as she and I chat at her office in the historic Hopkins House.
Visit South Jersey promotes the park and other attractions and businesses in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties with a staff consisting of Perry, an administrative assistant, and an intern.
"I don't believe that if you build it, they will come," Perry says. "I believe you have to tell them it's there."
She's a native South Jerseyan, and I'm an immigrant from New England, but we bond immediately because of our shared affection for this down-to-earth part of the world.
What's not so hot about South Jersey (traffic, sprawl) is obvious, but what's really cool (distinctive communities, a variety of landscapes, abundant agriculture) is less immediately evident - particularly at 65 m.p.h. along the New Jersey Turnpike.
Hence the value of a stylish, multimedia branding campaign, components of which are now in place.
"There are a lot of stories to tell, and we need the ability to tell those stories much more loudly," says Perry, 36, a marketing and public relations professional who grew up in Cherry Hill and earned an MBA from Drexel University. She was working as Visit South Jersey's director of marketing when she was tapped for her new post.
She owns the Kings Hall co-working campus in Haddonfield and lives in the borough with her husband, Sean, an engineer, and their three children.
"We're fortunate to have Devon," says former Haddonfield Mayor Jack Tarditi, a longtime Visit South Jersey board member. "She's a great communicator. And she's very enthusiastic."
Perry replaced former executive director Jake Buganski, who started a new job as president of the Corning and the Southern Finger Lakes (N.Y) tourism marketing agency Jan. 11.
Buganski was widely respected locally, particularly for helping put South Jersey on the map as a destination for wine tourism - and as part of the four-state Vintage Atlantic Wine Region.
"What Jake and Visit South Jersey have done is truly remarkable," says Scott Donnini, one of the owners of the Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery. The Pilesgrove, Salem County, attraction includes a wine bar, pizza, and live entertainment.
"On an average Saturday in the summertime, we'll probably have 300 or 400 people come through," says Donnini, who on Tuesday succeeded Tarditi as chairman of the board of Visit South Jersey.
"The whole concept of wine tourism has caught on . . . partly due to the [eating local] movement," he notes. "People want to know where their food is grown, and where their wine grapes are grown."
Interest in traditional, walkable downtowns has grown as well; Visit South Jersey's marketing showcases the region's abundance of such destinations.
A unique attraction it also plans to feature: a fossil hunter's paradise in Mantua Township that is drawing national attention.
The organization has a robust social-media presence, and its website (visitsouthjersey.com) offers a free app.
But face-to-face still matters. And Perry - the new face of Visit South Jersey - is bursting with ideas.
When we talk by phone Wednesday, she's on her way to Center City to meet with representatives of Philly Tech Week; the annual event may include a South Jersey component this year.
"I'm so excited," Perry says. "If we get everything we need, my dreams would be to bring executives from companies here, and take them to the wineries and the downtowns and the restaurants.
"I would like people to decide not only to visit, but to live here. I would love to open their eyes."
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