BERLIN — As part of their efforts to take advantage of Berlin’s recent “Coolest Small Town in America” win, town leaders are attempting to market Berlin as more than a 90-minute destination when bus tours come through the area.
Town representatives met with members of Ocean City’s hospitality industry last week to discuss ways to have Berlin play a larger role with tours.
After hosting a business luncheon at the Atlantic Hotel, managing director Angela Reynolds said this week that the late-April meeting appears to have been successful.
“I would say that it was a very positive turnout, a very positive experience and everyone that came was very enthusiastic about it,” she said.
The luncheon was a chance for the town to pitch its appeal as a bus tour destination to members of Ocean City’s hotel community, which is responsible for organizing many of the tours. Close to 20 resort representatives either met with Berlin officials in person or made contact via phone. Most gave at least some indication that they would be willing to make further bookings with Berlin and to include trips to the town in tour packages.
“Everyone has pretty much committed to working with us on this project,” Reynolds said. “So I think that is, again, a very positive step in the right direction.”
The town has had success in the past as a quick lunch and shopping stop on previous tours but officials think there’s more under the surface.
“What we’re trying to show is that Berlin has more to offer than an hour-and-a-half,” said Michael Day, director of Economic and Community Development.
Some of that evolution has come about naturally as Berlin’s restaurant business has rapidly increased in the past three years. Town-wide special events and festivals are also seeing a boost in popularity with some drawing four-figure crowds. But an important selling point for having more bus tours in Berlin will be whether the town can provide consistent entertainment for day trippers.
“We’ll be having ghost tours every Wednesday and every Thursday night from June through October,” said Reynolds. “It is very exciting to think that for two nights in a row in the middle of the week we’re going to have something going on.”
Berlin is hoping to work hand-in-hand with Ocean City to offer combination tours. Between the amenities offered by the resort and the town, Berlin Mayor Gee Williams predicted that collaborative tours could take a bite out of the slow moving shoulder seasons that come before and after the busy summer.
“There’s no reason if we work together that we can’t bring them down during the spring and fall as well,” said Williams. “The only thing that can stop us is snow. It’s a natural cooperation.”
Already some definitive commitments have been made for more bus groups to visit Berlin as a result of the town’s spring meeting.
“We had a bus tour over yesterday for lunch … and I just, today, got a call from a bus group that is coming over in December,” Reynolds said Wednesday. “It’s starting already and a lot of the people have asked me to meet with them separately to talk about what else we can do. We have put together a lot of tours, a lot more tours, and packages which I’m excited about, too, because it’s offering new possibilities to see Berlin differently than maybe they have in the past.”