Al Hutchinson, CEO of Visit Baltimore — the city's official destination marketing organization, which champions Baltimore’s rich history, vibrant food scene and sports culture — recently sat down with The News-Letter to share his experiences in Baltimore and the milestones he’s reached in helping the city's appeal spread to a wider audience.
The News-Letter: To begin with, could you introduce yourself and give us an overview of Visit Baltimore?
Al Hutchinson: First, my role — I'm the President and CEO at Visit Baltimore. By definition, we are the official destination marketing organization for Baltimore. What that essentially means is we have a sales team, a marketing team, and a finance and operations team. Our main goal is to drive visitors, conventions, special events and sporting events to Baltimore. We want people to come visit us, experience Baltimore, stay at our hotels, dine at our restaurants, buy tickets to an Orioles or Ravens game and visit the National Aquarium.
So we're about creating a quality-of-life culture for people to come to a city to enjoy all its assets, and, when they leave, to have such a great experience that they go back and tell their family and friends that Baltimore is a must-see destination.
At the end of the day, we also have an economic development perspective too. We want people to leave tax revenue here in the community — hotel tax revenue and other dollars that the city can use to do infrastructure development and improve quality of life for our citizens here in Baltimore.
We're excited about the work we do, and we think it has a very big value in the city.
COURTESY OF VISIT BALTIMORE
Catching an Orioles game is a must-have on any Baltimore bucket list.
N-L: How do you and Visit Baltimore stay connected to everything happening in the city?
AH: Essentially, we are a storytelling organization. Our job, if we're doing it right, is to use a number of different platforms to tell all the good-news stories about Baltimore.
We’re very active on social media. We have a robust website, and we also do digital and print advertising both here in the local market and within a 200–300 mile radius around Baltimore. We're out on the national trade show circuit as well. We have a sales team of about 12 people who travel to international and national trade shows around the country, where we set up trade show booths and tell the Baltimore story — about our arts and culture, culinary scene, history, neighborhoods and small business owners.
We're constantly telling the great story of Baltimore across those different platforms, because everybody gets their news in different ways.
N-L: When you’re telling these stories, do you ever run into pushback or people who have preconceived ideas about Baltimore?
AH: That's a great question. Yes, sometimes there are preconceived notions about Baltimore. Some of it’s real, some of it’s fiction. The number one pushback area we hear is about public safety — “Will I be safe if I visit Baltimore?”
We don’t shy away from it. We know we are an urban hub, and just like other major cities domestically or internationally, we want to make sure the traveler understands what it takes when they travel to a city like Baltimore. We want to arm our visitors and conventioneers with information about where to go, where to meet and convene, and more. We also share data points: for example, homicides are down over 20% year over year in the central business district where most visitors gather.
We want people to feel comfortable — we face the concerns head-on while making sure visitors have a safe and positive experience.
N-L: If you had to tell someone about Baltimore quickly, what’s the story you tell?
AH: Well, it depends on what they're into!
Broadly speaking, we share the real uniqueness of Baltimore from a neighborhood perspective. Baltimore’s got over 200 neighborhoods, each with its own flavor.
If they're into food, we tell them we’re way more than blue crabs, even though we do them better than anybody else. We’ve got great food scenes in Fells Point, Harbor East, Hampden, Federal Hill, Locust Point — all over. If they want history, we talk about Fort McHenry and all the contributions African Americans have made to the city’s history. And if it’s medical stuff they’re interested in, we’re a medical hub — Hopkins leads the way, but we have a lot of great institutions.
So we have so many great stories to share with visitors. There’s so much to tell, but it really depends on what an individual is really interested in — we customize the story based on this.
N-L: How do you balance celebrating established businesses and history while also highlighting new businesses and trends?
AH: A lot of it is partnering with community stakeholders — the creatives, the social influencers, the small business owners — and ask them to help us tell those stories better and connect our great history with what folks are looking for.
We take some of our small business owners on the road with us to trade shows — people who run coffee shops, tea shops, clothing stores. They tell their own stories, and it resonates with visitors way better than if it just comes from us.
Visitors today want authenticity. They don't want something cookie-cutter. They want to feel what the city’s really about — and hearing from people who live here, who started their businesses here, really helps us tell that story.
COURTESY OF VISIT BALTIMORE
Trade shows offer a great way to explore Baltimore’s unique business scene and uncover new finds.
N-L: You’ve worked in other cities before Baltimore. How did you learn so much about Baltimore so quickly?
AH: First, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert — I’m still learning every day. But I’ve been in this industry for 30-plus years across six cities. What’s helped me is my curiosity.
When I moved to Baltimore nine years ago, I got out into the neighborhoods early, embraced the city's uniqueness and built relationships with the people here. Because I embraced Baltimore early, the city embraced me. I feel the love of the community, and I take it seriously when inviting others to experience Charm City.
N-L: What are some of your personal favorite things about Baltimore?
AH: There’s a lot to like about Baltimore.
I enjoy visiting our unique neighborhoods and their culinary scenes — whether it’s Hamden, Fells Point, Harbor East or Union Collective. I love the small, locally-owned retail shops that you can only find here. Baltimore gives you a big-city vibe with small-city charm. And as a sports fan, I love the energy — whether it’s Ravens football season, the Orioles or events like the CIAA basketball tournament we helped bring to Baltimore.
There’s always a lot of good energy in the city.
N-L: What are some of the biggest highlights during your time at Visit Baltimore?
AH: Three things really stand out.
First, the rebranding we did in 2019. We brought in community voices and input about where we could be going with this rebrand, and when we rolled it out, people saw themselves in it. It resonated both with our local community and across the country. That was one of the best things we’ve done from a big-picture standpoint.
Second, bringing the CIAA basketball tournament here. That event brings energy and business during February, which is usually a slow month for Baltimore. Hotels, restaurants, small businesses — everybody wins.
Third, we started the Warm Welcome program toward the end of the pandemic, when we were concerned about making sure all people felt welcomed in Baltimore. This was a platform to show the world that if you came to Baltimore, regardless of your race, faith, or gender, you would be welcome in our city. We partnered with businesses, did DEI training, accessibility training, LGBTQ+ training — just making sure everyone feels welcome here.
N-L: National Travel and Tourism Week is coming up — any plans?
AH: This year, we hope to launch the "Tourism Academy" platform during National Travel and Tourism Week.
The Tourism Academy is focused on training frontline hospitality workers on customer service best practices, giving them tools to greet visitors warmly and make them feel welcome. There’s a "Charm City Certified" course as part of it — workers can complete it at their own pace to learn about Baltimore and hospitality fundamentals.
Long-term, we hope to build out more curriculum for mid-level managers and senior leaders in the industry. We’re really excited about it — stay tuned!
