MGM Resorts International opened MGM Springfield in August in downtown Springfield, a city of just over 150,000 residents. It’s the second major commercial resort to open in Massachusetts, but Encore Boston Harbor is unusual in that it is the first to be plopped into the center of a major city.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve Encore’s regional marketing and tourism plan. Encore advertising is educating prospective visitors about public transportation, pedestrian and bicycle corridors, and the company’s own shuttle buses and motor coaches, and two different types of harbor shuttles.Ĭommissioners dedicated nearly its entire agenda to the Encore opening in what is expected to be the last meeting before dice are rolled by the public and slot machine reels spin. Resort officials are encouraging visitors to the property not to arrive by car. The company has spent more than $1 million just in transportation marketing and advertising messages it has planned for the week leading up to the opening.