PHILADELPHIA, February 21, 2024 – Today, Visit Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) hosted the Philadelphia 2024 Tourism Outlook at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The event featured an industry address by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker while also highlighting insights from the region’s industry leaders as they came together for a series of discussions to provide an overview of Greater Philadelphia’s tourism industry performance and look ahead at the tourism forecast.
Angela Val, president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, and Gregg Caren, president and CEO of the PHLCVB, announced that nearly 43 million people visited the 5-County Philadelphia region in 2023, a 6% increase over 2022. Those visitors spent $7.6 billion in the market, and as those funds cycled through the regional economy, they generated an economic impact of $12.4 billion. Across all tourism industry KPIs, year-over-year gains were achieved showing continued post-pandemic recovery, either meeting or beating 2019 benchmarks in all categories except visitation. Greater Philadelphia 5-county regional tourism industry results, include:
- Total Visitation: 42.9 million, a 6% increase vs 2022 (-6% vs 2019)
- Visitor Spending: $7.6 billion, an 8% increase vs 2022 (0% vs 2019)
- Economic Impact: $12.4 billion, a 6% increase vs 2022 (0% vs 2019)
- State and Local Taxes: $1 billion, an 11% increase vs 2022 (4% vs 2019)
- Hospitality-Related Jobs: 192,700, an 8% increase vs 2022 (+1% vs 2019)
Similar improvements and year-over-year gains were seen within Philadelphia County as well. Top results2 include:
- Philadelphia Visitation: 25.8 million, a 7% increase vs 2022 (-7% vs 2019)
- Visitor Spending in Philadelphia: $4.4 billion, a 10% increase vs 2022 (-1% vs 2019)
- Philadelphia Economic Impact: $6.6 billion, a 9% increase vs 2022 (-8% vs 2019)
- State and Local Taxes: $387 million, a 15% increase vs 2022 (+10% vs 2019)
- Philadelphia Hospitality-Related Jobs: 77,200, a 10% increase vs 2022 (-1% vs 2019)
Forward progress was also made in Philadelphia County hotel recovery. All key metrics saw year-over-year improvements, with hotel supply and Average Daily Rate (ADR) surpassing 2019 levels.
2023 Philadelphia County Hotel Performance3
- Occupancy: 62.3%, a 7% increase vs. 2022 (-19% vs 2019)
- Average Daily Rate (ADR): $202.05, a 2% increase vs. 2022 (+9% vs 2019)
- Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR): $125.95, a 9% increase vs. 2022 (-11% vs 2019)
- Supply: 6.8 million room nights available, a 2% increase vs 2022 (+9% vs 2019)
- Demand: 4.25 million room nights sold, a 9% increase vs. 2022 (-11% vs 2019)
- Revenue: $859 million, an 11% increase vs. 2022 (-3% vs 2019)
During the event, Mayor Cherelle Parker took the opportunity to address the region’s tourism industry for the first time since her Mayoral induction just last month. Mayor Parker’s remarks were followed by a panel discussion featuring a group of Philadelphia’s tourism industry leaders, including:
- Angela Val, President & CEO of Visit Philadelphia
- Gregg Caren, President & CEO of PHLCVB
- John McNichol, President of Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority
- Kathryn Ott Lovell, President and CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation.
Led by Cherri Gregg, host and news anchor for WHYY, the conversation offered a look at the results of 2023 while teasing what the industry has in store for 2024. All four organizations will be issuing annual reports in March with additional segment-specific data.
Discussions continued with a fireside chat between Erik Hansen, Senior Vice President of Government Relations of U.S. Travel Association and Paul Bencivengo, President and CEO of Visit Bucks County, focused on how attendees could support advocating for the industry among state and local elected officials.
For more on the 2024 Tourism Outlook, please view the full media kit here.