New tourism czar hits the bottom working

LOWELL – Rick Lofria, the new Executive Director of the Greater Merrimack Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, knows from personal experience how badly COVID-19 has hit the hospitality industry: He was fired from a senior sales position at the Burlington Marriott as a hotel, with bookings made last year broken into.

Now in his new position it is first of all “to get everything going again”.

Likening his job to “drinking from a fire hose,” he said, “We tried, but now we’re getting the hang of it with extreme support from board members, the city, the state (through the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism ) and other regional centers. “

The partnership with the state has already resulted in a resurgence of the Merrimack Valley hospitality industry, according to Lofria.

With a $ 10,000 investment, MVCB launched a marketing campaign on Expedia aimed at customers looking for hotel accommodation in Massachusetts.

The Expedia campaign provided information about activities and highlighted accommodation options in the region.

The campaign kicked off May 14 and through May 31, 1,230 room nights were booked through Expedia, adding $ 165,694 to the books of nearby hotels. That’s an average of $ 135 per room per night.

A new report on hotel bookings is due soon, and Lofria expects the numbers to be higher. “We’re trying to use advertisements to shift market share to get people to stay away from Boston,” he said.

Lofria has lived in Westford for 21 years and met Lowell through Spinners Games.

He had been a member of the MVCB board when its former director Tom Fitzmaurice resigned in the spring and other board members urged him to consider the position.

“I felt like I knew Lowell when I took the job, but I’ve learned so much more about Lowell’s offerings over the past few months,” he said.

On a new day he was walking through downtown Lowell and stopped by the Tremonte Pizzeria. “It was packed.”

He takes this as a good sign, “there is hunger and thirst out there to come out for events”.

For the second year in a row, the Lowell Folk Festival was canceled. Lofria regrets the gap that has arisen and hopes that the revival of Restaurant Week will still attract visitors to the region. The theme is “Let’s Go Out Lowell” to present restaurants in the region as unique culinary experiences.

This event takes place from July 23rd to August 9th.

The office covers the Greater Lowell area and also extends to communities such as Acton, Boxborough, Stowe, Concord and Lexington. It represents a total of 21 municipalities.