With activations including a classic New Jersey-style breakfast, photo ops with Atlantic City lifeguards, sushi rolls and live demonstrations by Nobu Atlantic City and bubbly from the lady in the champagne dress, Visit Atlantic City’s booth attracted rave reviews as “the fun hub” at IMEX America this past October.
The fabled seaside destination knows all about putting on a show, dating to the 1870 debut of its iconic centerpiece: the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
Opened in 1898 and last reinvented in 2017 with the opening of the giant observation wheel, the event-capable Steel Pier set the stage for Atlantic City’s enduring star power as a live event destination. From the 1920s to the 1970s, numerous legendary acts played the iconic amusement pier’s Music Hall and Marine Ballroom.
In August 1969, two weeks before Woodstock, 100,000-plus fans attended the Atlantic City Pop Festival at the former Atlantic City Racetrack. On July 4, 1983, more than 200,000 people crowded the Caesars Boardwalk Regency (now Caesars Atlantic City) beachfront for the final performance of the six original Beach Boys.
This past July, the Atlantic City Air Show, reinaugurated as the two-day Visit Atlantic City Soar & Shore Festival, drew 150,000 attendees to the beach, Boardwalk and beyond, generating $19 million in economic impact.
Hosting more than 50 major Q3 events to the tune of 46,900-plus room nights and nearly 98,000 attendees, the destination continues to strengthen and leverage its group appeal as the place to be for productivity, good times and lasting memories.
[Related: Atlantic City Rides High on a Wave of Change as Musich Takes Charge]
Atlantic City Excels In Service Levels, Flexibility and Infrastructure
Another landmark with legs is Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. Opened in 1929 as one of the nation’s first convention centers, this barrel-vaulted boardwalk beauty is approaching a century as a powerful revenue engine.
With its own pioneering event legacy, the 14,770-capacity venue anticipates a final tally of about 295,000 visitors and more than $75 million in local economic impact in 2025. Count me and a host of planners in that attendee total after Visit Atlantic City welcomed us to Boardwalk Hall’s private 35-capacity Musician’s Balcony, or Ciocca Club, for an electrifying farewell performance by The Who in October.
As Roger Daltrey, 81, hit all the high notes and Pete Townshend, 80, windmilled his guitar on “My Generation,” “Long Live Rock” and other hits, the crowd responded in kind, eliciting praise from the rock legends. Before the show, planners including Shawn Johnston, meetings director at the Nashville, Tennessee-based American Fisheries Society (AFS), sang their own praises for Visit Atlantic City and the destination.
Founded in 1870, the same year the Atlantic City Boardwalk opened, AFS is a global organization with 8,000-plus members focused on conserving and sustaining fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems.
“We have brought our annual five-day science, conservation and education-based meeting to Atlantic City several times over the years, most recently in 2018 for our 148th gathering,” Johnston said. “Our attendees and staff love coming here and being on the boardwalk and the beach. Many typically extend their stay into a family vacation.”
AFS annual meetings attract as many as 4,400 attendees, ranging from agency directors to students. Requirements typically include 32 rooms for concurrent sessions and breakouts; a general session ballroom; 110 tradeshow booths; various offsite venues for networking; and up to seven contracted hotels, adding overflow as needed.
In 2018, AFS utilized the Atlantic City Convention Center for the main agenda; Hard Rock, Caesars, Bally’s, The Claridge and Sheraton for hotels; Hard Rock and Steel Pier for offsite networking; and Bally’s Beach Bar for a grand social gathering with fireworks.
“Atlantic City flexibly meets and exceeds these needs,” Johnston continued. “The hotel staffs were excellent to work with throughout the process. With their outstanding dedication to service and attention to detail, Visit Atlantic City shared our goal of ensuring a positive, memorable and successful meeting. They never disappoint and are hard to beat.”
Devoted to preparing students for the future, the New Jersey chapters of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and DECA meet throughout the year, including annual back-to-back student conferences with an eight-year-and-counting history in Atlantic City.
For Dr. Jeffrey R. Victor, executive director of NJ FBLA and NJ DECA, “the space, service, support and cooperation” keep him coming back to Atlantic City.
“Bringing in 10,000 students for two weeks, our group may seem atypical for the adult-oriented gaming and glamor of Atlantic City, but we receive the same level of service and support as if we were at 10 times the spend,” Victor said.
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City hosts both events, housing included.
“While Harrah’s space is flexible enough for our current and long-term growth needs, we know that expansion opportunities at the Atlantic City Convention Center are there,” continued Victor, a former hotelier who regards Visit Atlantic City, Harrah’s, Caesars Entertainment and the wider community as “trusted partners, not suppliers” in every way.
“From celebrity restaurants to cooperation from Visit Atlantic City and local government, we can count on impeccable service and support at all touch points, with added peace of mind in areas including housekeeping and security,” Victor said. “Atlantic City offers both current and future growth solutions for our group, which is why we have built a partnership from all sides that is meant to last. We want to create memorable experiences for our students, and Atlantic City never disappoints.”
[Related: These New Jersey Wineries Offer Scenic Event Settings for Groups]
Atlantic City’s Latest Hotel and Venue Reinvestments
As reported by The Press of Atlantic City, the city’s nine casinos won nearly $312 million in August, up 6.1% from a year earlier. It was the largest win in over a decade, surpassing online betting for the fourth straight month.
The elimination of four of the seven bids for New York City-area gaming licenses also bodes well. With decisions on the remaining bids—two in Queens, one in The Bronx—due this December, Atlantic City continues to drive and expand visitation with new, refreshed and diversified products.
Reinvestments of late include the transformed 598-room Solana Tower at Tropicana Atlantic City; the new non-gaming 105-room Seahaus Hotel on the Boardwalk; and scheduled for summer 2026, the transformation of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa’s former Premier Nightclub.
Echoing its Nevada sibling, “go big or go home” is a perennial theme in Atlantic City, too.
A Fresh Perspective on Boosting Atlantic City’s Group Appeal: Anthony Molino
With prior executive roles in hotel, destination and convention sales at Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Choose Chicago, McCormick Place and the Atlanta CVB, Anthony Molino brought his top-tier talents to Visit Atlantic City this summer, joining the bureau as vice president of sales.
Speaking with Meetings Today Senior Contributor Jeff Heilman at IMEX America this October, the Ohio native, whose influence extends to volunteer, advocacy and leadership roles with MPI, PCMA, Destinations International and the LGBT Meeting Professionals Association, outlined the key tenets of his strategic vision for solidifying and advancing Atlantic City’s strong group market position.
“After taking in the scene, I saw clearly that Atlantic City has everything needed to be successful,” Molino said. “The brand will always attract group and leisure business. Awareness of Atlantic City is strong, and to maintain that momentum we are sharpening the messaging around our identity, which starts with talking about transformative local improvement efforts.”
The conversation starts with community development corporations (CDCs) that serve as economic revitalization vehicles for individual neighborhoods focused on housing, small business and infrastructure improvement.
“Our goal for 2026 is to educate residents and business owners on our work as an organization—bringing in tourists and conventioneers that generate major economic impact—and how that benefits them,” Molino said. “We want to inspire local uptake of the ‘greater good’ aspects of investing in and taking pride in their hometown.”
In support of that goal, Molino is installing a Customer Advisory Board (CAB) of up to 25 tenured planners that have booked Atlantic City before, booked but not returned or never booked the destination. Slated for January 2026, participants will experience Atlantic City’s leisure and convention offerings, including discussions about venues and suppliers.
“The CAB is an investment in our future that Gary Musich, our president and CEO, fully supports,” Molino said. “Based on feedback from existing group clients, we know we are already doing an excellent job. With the infrastructure, facilities, hotel rooms and other resources to bring in even more business, we will ask the CAB for their unbiased view of how we can do even better. Their feedback is a critical element in securing backing from the city, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the people investing in Atlantic City’s future for our efforts.”
Molino is energized by the prospects ahead.
“We all are [energized], as a team,” he said. “There is an encouraging openness among internal and external stakeholders alike to work together to bring more business to the city, including funding support from State of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs for the CDCs and broader revitalization plans. It is a wave of positive change that we plan to ride into the future.”
