Tourism Council October Meeting Recap — An Eventful Time for Greater Cape Ann
Special events and activities have long been a driving force for the success of Greater Cape
Ann’s tourism community, and that has clearly been the case in the past several months. This
was the focus of the October 20 meeting of the Greater Cape Ann Tourism Council, as we
recapped recent highlights and discussed plans for the seasons ahead.

Some of the biggest draws this fall have been |the Cape Ann Museum’s Edward Hopper
exhibit, the October Halloween festivities in Salem and here on Cape Ann, the continuing
Gloucester 400+ celebrations, and the Cape Ann Plein Air outdoor painting competition.
These and other special events followed a busy summer season that included the Schooner
Festival, the Waterfront Festival, and the summer-long Culture Splash program and
downtown Gloucester Block Parties. All this and more attracted new visitors to Cape Ann
and introduced long-time tourists to all that the region has to offer. In our meeting, we
reviewed these events and discussed how they helped to compensate for a year in which the
weather has been less than cooperative.

The success of 2023 events and activities formed the basis of conversations around future
opportunities to boost tourism across Greater Cape Ann. Among the ideas discussed by the
group were plans for activities around Pride Month, a culture festival, a Cape Ann
Community Foundation celebration, the birding season, and a winter festival. In our October
meeting, we also talked about the growth of soft-season activities among Cape Ann toursim
businesses in recent years, as more attention is focused on welcoming more tourists outside
of the busy summer months. We also talked about the importance of expanding tourist
offerings around upcoming holiday events and other existing activities. This could include
cross-marketing, visitor packages, promotional toolkits, and programs for those planning
weddings and conference retreats.

Many of these topics will be discussed at the upcoming “Season in Review” held in
conjunction with Discover Gloucester (November 9) and in upcoming Tourism Council
meetings.

Anyone involved or interested in our tourism economy is invited to join our monthly
meetings. We gather on the third Friday of each month at the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of
Commerce offices — and via Zoom. If you’d like to be part of these discussions, please
reach out to me or contact the Chamber staff.

Tony Sapienza
Co-owner, Blue Shutters Beachside Inn
Chair, Tourism Council
tsapienza@gmail.com