Atlantic City Tours Gives Fresh, Localized View of Resort Town for Tourists
By Shaniele Brown | For AC JosepH Media
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City is much more than what gets projected to the outside world.
Tourists who visit the city for their vacation tend to spend most of their time close to the internationally known Atlantic City Boardwalk filled with hotels, casinos, and the beach. The need for creating a business that services the tourism industry has developed into an opportunity for Deborah Robinson, award-winning journalist and founding partner for Atlantic City Tours.
Along with the parent company, QOF Capital, a qualified opportunity fund that manages and creates businesses in opportunity zones, Robinson wants to help highlight the city and its people.
“About 4.5 billion is coming into the city for local businesses to benefit,” Robinson said. “Local businesses aren’t taking advantage of the tourism dollar, so we felt one of the main ways to help the community is to create a business that services the tourism industry.”
Starting Easter weekend, guests will have a chance to experience the lifestyle and culture and interact with the locals up close and personal with Atlantic City Tours located at 127 N. Michigan Avenue, Atlantic City, inside the Tanger Outlets.
Most tours will operate from 9 a.m. until midnight, and guests can choose between three modes of transportation, a bus that holds up to 15 passengers, a limo, and a Tesla vehicle. The tours are two hours long and average $99 per person.
Visitors can enjoy either the Monopoly City, Boardwalk Empire, and Chicken Bone Beach tours.
The town of Atlantic City has inspired the creation of the Monopoly board game. The expedition will highlight the history of the city and the street names. The Boardwalk Empire tour will tell the stories of the mob lifestyle, and the Chicken Bone Beach tour will share the avenues while all the things that African Americans have done for the city. Other experiences include the gathering, bar crawl, fish & fry, beachnic, beach house, bubble beach, and a five-hour children’s adventure called “Save the World.”
“Atlantic City will be able to share who they are with the world and change how it is seen,” Robinson said.
Atlantic City Tours has received three different approvals from Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Tanger Outlets, and the city to operate in the tourist district. They also went through a series of seven inspections.
Robinson and QOF Capital faced challenges, including the search for investors. The partners needed help finding investors in New Jersey to fund their business idea, so they reached outside the state.
They also need a managing partner to help run the company’s operations. According to Robinson, the focus is to find a local with experience in tourism or running a business to invest their time.
“We at QOF Capital will come in and build, finance, and lay the foundation for the business,” Robinson said. “This is how we empower and help the city’s economy; we find within the city a managing partner that can come in and invest running the business day-to-day. Then we step back and let the business run while giving the support we can give.”
Atlantic City Live is a podcast created by the partners at QOF Capital to be used as a marketing tool to promote Atlantic City. Robinson expressed that a considerable challenge is the perception of Atlantic City nationally. This media avenue will help change people’s viewpoints about what the town is all about.
“It is a podcast that we do right in the middle of the store; we want visitors coming in to see the podcast area. To go to the site and listen to the podcast and get a chance to know the people and the culture of Atlantic City much better,” Robinson said.
“There is no local media that is based in Atlantic City, so we had to create our own,” Robinson said.
Visitors wishing to book a tour can visit Atlantic City Tours at their social media sites:
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