NEW YORK, October 22, 2009 – First, actor Peter Facinelli expressed his love for his home state of New York and helped the Empire State’s tourism promotion agency, iloveny.com, launch its new Twitter handle @I_LOVE_NY. Now, starting Friday, October 23, Peter will provide his Twitter followers with details to meet the star in his hometown. The Grand Prize sweepstakes winner and their guest will receive round trip tickets to NY, NY via JetBlue, luxurious hotel accommodations for two nights at The Sherry-Netherland, two tickets to the set of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie for a meet-and-greet with Facinelli, ground transportation, and an I LOVE NEW YORK and EscapeMaker.com gift basket.

“Peter has been great to support I LOVE NEW YORK and by launching the sweepstakes is helping us achieve our goal of becoming the number one most followed state tourism page on Twitter,” said Thomas Ranese, Chief Marketing Officer of Empire State Development. “We hope the sweepstakes serves as a tool to increase followers and expose new people to the latest happenings, events, special offers and getaway opportunities throughout New York State.”

All Twitter users must follow @I_LOVE_NY to enter the I LOVE NEW YORK sweepstakes trip giveaway starting on Friday, October 23. For a complete list of rules and entry registration form visit EscapeMaker.com. The Grand Prize winner will be chosen at random one week from Friday with the winner announcement on November 6. Since the launch of the Twitter handle last week, I LOVE NEW YORK has gained nearly 4,000 followers, putting it on the top-ten list of state tourism sites with the most followers on Twitter.

To enter, and for official rules, click HERE!