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Philadelphia's Tourism Marketing Organization Gets New Name

By Molly Daly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The organization that markets the Philadelphia area as a tourist destination has changed its name from the tongue-twisting Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation -- also known as GPTMC - to a more self-explanatory moniker -- Visit Philadelphia.

"We think this is an act of mercy," says Visit Philadelphia President and CEO Meryl Levitz.

Besides being a lot easier to say, Levitz says Visit Philadelphia is a lot more inviting.

"It's a new name for a 17-year-old organization that tells people exactly what we want them to do."

Levitz says the renaming was driven in large part by technology.

"The word Philadelphia is searched much more frequently than any other word for Philadelphia," Levitz says, "and so it made sense to go with it."

And Visit Philadelphia is more in line with the visitphilly.com website. But does Levitz feel any nostalgia about casting aside the old name?

"GPTMC will live on in my heart," she says, "but you're not going to be seeing it on a billboard."

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