Philadelphia’s Tourism Industry Releases 2022 Annual Reports

Philadelphia’s Tourism Industry Releases 2022 Annual Reports

For the first time, the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation, and VISIT PHILADELPHIA® release Annual Reports together to provide a complete snapshot of industry results.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority (PCCA), Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation (PVCC), and VISIT PHILADELPHIA® today released their 2022 Annual Reports. For the first time, these four leading tourism organizations have collaborated to announce their findings together and provide a well-rounded view of the entire tourism industry in Philadelphia, including year-over-year growth in nearly every category.

Below are highlights from each annual report, with links to the full reports for reference.

Visit Philadelphia & Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation Report Findings:
Visit Philadelphia Results¹:

• In 2022, Philadelphia welcomed 39.8 million domestic visitors to the 5-county region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties), with 24.3 million domestic visitors in Philadelphia alone (up 15% from 2021).
• $7.1 billion in domestic visitor spending across the 5-county region, with over $3.9 billion directly spent in Philadelphia (up 47% from 2021)
• Visitor spending generated $11.6 billion in economic impact in the 5-country region, including $6.02 billion in Philadelphia (up 45% from 2021)
• $940 million in tax revenue was generated across the 5-counties (up 28% vs 2021), with $335 million in Philadelphia (up 15% from 2021)
• 89,480 jobs were directly supported by visitor spending throughout the region
• Visit Philadelphia marketing strategies generated over 306 million ad impressions, 33 million social media impressions, 13.9 million VisitPhilly.com pageviews and 3,300 tracked and/or placed stories about Philadelphia.

Angela Val, President & CEO, VISIT PHILADELPHIA

“Visit Philadelphia is proud to report that 2022 was a year of strong resurgence and recovery for the leisure travel segment and Philadelphia’s broader tourism industry. As our Annual Report shows, we outpaced 2021 metrics in nearly every category and are on the right track to reach our benchmark, record-setting numbers from 2019. I am confident that we will look back at 2022 as the year where the tides turned for the better and our industry was able to focus on what we do best: welcome visitors to America’s greatest city.”

Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation Results²:

• Welcomed 1.3 million visitors through the Independence Visitor Center, Love Park Visitor Center and the Philly PHLASH Downtown Loop (up 53% from 2021)
• Provided Philly PHLASH rides to an average of 9,800 riders per month of operation (up 22% from 2021)
• Increased website traffic to 54.6 million (up 43% from 2021)
• $3.6 million operating budget in 2022. Generated 55% of earned revenue from a combination of gift shop sales, concession, ticket and advertising sales, and private event rentals. 45% of operations supported by grants and federal funding.

Deborah O’Brien, Board Chair, Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation

“Last year was a time of promising new beginnings for the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation, proudly embracing our new Mission and Vision as we continued on our road to recovery. Throughout 2022, we had the distinct pleasure of again opening our doors to provide a welcoming and informative first impression of our great city to over one million visitors. And it’s just the beginning. We look forward to working closely with our fellow industry leaders to deepen our impact and continue on the path of post-pandemic industry growth.”

Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau & Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Report Results:

Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau Results³:

• 2022 brought the consistent return of large, in-person events to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which culminated in a full slate of 19 citywide⁴ events for the first time since 2019.
• PHLCVB delivered 224 events in 2022, welcoming 494,300 attendees and 513,400 room nights, stimulating spending in many sectors that resulted in $345 million in economic impact.
• On average, and when compared to days without a citywide event, in 2022, citywides delivered 11% higher hotel occupancy.
• In 2022, 444,200 overseas visitors to Philadelphia were responsible for $549 million in economic impact, with over 4,664 full-time jobs supported and $196 million in personal income generated for Philadelphia residents.
• Overseas arrivals to Pennsylvania consistently outperformed the national average. Inbound overseas visits to Philadelphia recovered to 63%, while the national average was at 57%.
• The top recovery markets for Philadelphia aligned with PHLCVB’s key market-focused strategy and included India recovering to 80%, Netherlands to 88%, and Ireland to 97% of pre-pandemic levels.

2022 was a significant year of accomplishments that included landmark announcements, the steady return of meetings and events, and the resumption of overseas travel as borders reopened and international visitors returned to the city.

Gregg Caren, President & CEO, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau

“2022 was an important year for Philadelphia on its continued post-COVID recovery, from winning our bid to host the world’s largest sporting event, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to welcoming back visitors from across the world as overseas travel resumed in earnest. A steady influx of meeting attendees and leisure travelers to Philadelphia meant economic support for the city and reliable jobs for the tourism and hospitality industry. The success we saw last year is thanks to the steadfast collaboration among the city’s hospitality partners, whose commitment and hard work will continue to spotlight Philadelphia as an unparalleled destination for travel.”

Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Results:

• The Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority hosted 109 events in 2022 (including 41 PHLCVB-booked events) with 552,000 attendees, generating $406 million in economic impact.
• Continued its commitment to sustainability, increased daily purchase of renewable energy certificates to 50%, exceeded its landfill diversion rate goal of 50%, and reduced its carbon footprint through upgrades to lighting, HVAC, and other operations.
• Working with trade show labor partners, the PCCA extended its Customer Satisfaction Agreement through 2034 and jointly launched the Hospitality Industry Advancement Trust to provide enhanced training opportunities in the areas of safety, development of technical skills, and customer-service and hospitality — “Safety, Skills, and Smiles.”
• Earned its Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR reaccreditation, identifying the Center as a showcase example of commitment to ensuring a clean, safe, and healthy environment for its employees, customers, and event attendees.

John J. McNichol, President & CEO, Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority

“The PHLCVB and PCC welcomed large, in-person events back to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, culminating in a full slate of 19 citywides for the first time since 2019. As this report shows, conventions and meetings are a key driver of the Greater Philadelphia area’s hospitality industry, supporting tens of thousands of regional jobs. Every event matters, and that is why the Center and our partners are constantly working to improve our operations and deliver the best possible customer service. We are building on last year’s growth and in 2023 look forward to welcoming an estimated one million event attendees who will help fuel our local economy by staying in our hotels, shopping at our stores, visiting our attractions, and dining at our restaurants.”

The 2022 Annual Reports come on the heels of recent announcements surrounding Greater Philadelphia’s strong post-pandemic recovery, including a report released in January 2023 by Visit Philadelphia, PHLCVB and the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. This report pointed to Center City Philadelphia’s continued hotel resurgence in 2022, showing increases in occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), supply, demand and hotel room revenue.

Collectively, all 2022 findings point to a strong, continued tourism resurgence in Greater Philadelphia. Notably, Tourism Economics has projected that both Center City and Philadelphia County will surpass most pre-pandemic hotel benchmarks in 2023-2024.

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¹  Source: EConsult Solutions; Visit Philadelphia
²  Source: EConsult Solutions; Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation
³   Source: Tourism Economics
⁴  Gatherings that generate 2,000 or more hotel room nights on the peak night of the event

NOTE: All data was accurate at the time of printing, based on currently available data. Data may change as new information becomes available.

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About the Pennsylvania Convention Center

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is located in Center City Philadelphia at the heart of the city’s many cultural offerings and world-class dining and entertainment scene. Managed by ASM Global, the Center is the 14th largest facility in the nation and features one of the largest exhibit spaces and ballrooms in the Northeastern U.S. The meetings, conventions, trade shows, and other events hosted by the Center attract attendees from across the country and around the world to Philadelphia, making the facility the largest economic driver of the region’s hospitality industry. For more information, visit paconvention.com.

About the PHLCVB:

The Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB) creates positive economic impact across the Philadelphia region, driving job growth and promoting the health and vibrancy of our hospitality industry by marketing the destination, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and attracting overnight visitors. The PHLCVB’s work engages our partners, the local Philadelphia community as well as culturally and ethnically diverse regional, national and international convention, sporting event and tourism customers. The PHLCVB is also the official tourism promotion agency for the city of Philadelphia globally and is responsible for growing the number of overseas leisure visitors who come to the region each year. To learn more, visit DiscoverPHL.com.

About the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation

The Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation is a Pennsylvania nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization, that works in cooperation with VISIT PHILADELPHIA®, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City of Philadelphia, National Park Service, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Visitor Center Corporation operates the Independence Visitor Center in cooperation with the National Park Service. The Independence Visitor Center is the primary point of orientation for Independence National Historical Park and the official visitor center of the Philadelphia region, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. In addition, the Corporation operates the LOVE Park Visitor Center, City Hall Visitor Center, the Philly PHLASH® Downtown Loop transit service, and the private event space, The Liberty View at Independence Visitor Center. Visit us at www.phlvisitorcenter.com, and follow @PHLVisitorCenter on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Visit Philadelphia:

VISIT PHILADELPHIA® is our name and our mission. As the region’s official tourism marketing agency, we build Greater Philadelphia’s image, drive visitation and boost the economy.

On Greater Philadelphia’s official visitor website, visitphilly.com, visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages. Compelling photography and videos, interactive maps and detailed visitor information make the site an effective trip-planning tool. Visitors can also find loads of inspiration on Visit Philly’s social media channels.

Note to Editors: For high-resolution photos and high-definition B-roll of Greater Philadelphia, visit the Photos & Video section of visitphilly.com/mediacenter.