Tourists are hitting the road again, a new study has revealed.
Visitor spending was up about 13 percent in 2022 over 2021, according to a recent study released by Pennsylvania’s Office of Tourism from data collected by Tourism Economics, a private company based in Wayne.
Visit Lebanon Valley president Jennifer Kuzo said information in the report titled “Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism in Pennsylvania – 2022” is great news for the county’s tourism economy.
“It is very important, and it means a lot to the county,” said Kuzo. “We do a lot of marketing, advertising, promoting and creating trails and things for people to do in the Lebanon Valley. There’s not always a hard Return on Investment for that, an ROI number that we can capture.”
Direct tourism revenue in Lebanon County rose from $258.8 million in 2021 to $296.4 million in 2022, according to the study that includes Lebanon County in a nine-county region that’s designated as Dutch Country Roads.
The state calculated tourist revenue in five categories for the report: lodging, food/beverages, retail, recreation and transportation. Revenue was up about $10 million to $11 million in each of those categories except lodging and retail sales, which rose $4.6 million and $3.3 million, respectively.
Kuzo noted that the increase can be attributed to travelers wishing to hit the road again following the pandemic that made state and federal officials hit the brakes by shutting down businesses in March 2020.
“The pandemic brought everything to a halt, and the tourism and hospitality industries took it on the chin,” she said. “We rely on those industries to bring in tourism revenue. The difference between then and now there is a workforce issue (with a few local businesses) and we’re working to combat that. But, yes, the numbers have bounced back.”
The report includes figures for the Tourism Satellite Account, or TSA, which is the overall impact the tourism industry has on the economy.
That figure reached $312.9 million in Lebanon County in 2022, up from $274.7 million in 2021, an increase of nearly 9 percent. The TSA is compiled by adding direct visitor spending revenue to government contributions and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE).
“The impact of a new manufacturing facility includes the construction of the facility and its operations (and) the TSA framework is what helps define that ‘tourism industry’ similar to that manufacturing plant,” said Christopher Pike, director of Impact Studies at Tourist Economics. “The TSA framework for tourism thus includes the visitor spending in a region as well as construction of hotels/restaurants/stores in future support of visitor activity, an estimate of maintenance spending by tourism-focused businesses as well as personal spending in support of traveling.”
Pike said PCE also includes purchases like a boat for recreational activities or furniture for a vacation home. That figure declined slightly in Lebanon County from $14.6 million in spending in 2021 to $14.4 million in 2022.
As visitor spending increased, so did employment in the tourism industry during 2022.
Direct employment in travel and tourism also saw an increase in Lebanon County from 2021 to 2022. These statistics are for those individuals who work directly in the tourist industry.
That figure rose from 1,686 workers to 1,824 individuals from one year to the next, which Kuzo called “a good sign for the future of tourism and the hospitality industry.”
Those 1,824 employees generated $67.1 million in income and paid $14.7 million in state and $16.1 million in federal taxes during 2022.
“These numbers show growth and the impact tourism is having on the area,” said Kuzo. “When people say Lebanon County isn’t a big tourist area, I beg to differ. All visitor spending matters whether you’re from Palmyra or New Jersey.”
In Lebanon County, direct employment in travel and tourism exceeded its pre-pandemic level. As of 2019, there were 1,807 workers while the recent study showed a total of 1,824 employees as of 2022, which shows that employment is back and slightly exceeds the pre-pandemic level.
Jobs also increased in Lebanon County that don’t have direct ties to tourism but are impacted by it.
“This total includes the benefit to the economy of that spending – for example, the restaurant meal bought by the traveler was delivered by a wholesaler and the restaurant used a bookkeeper as an accountant and a printer for the menus,” said Pike. “The wholesaler, accountant and printer did not get any money directly from travelers but their services were purchased with money from traveler activity. This is the indirect effect and part of the total.”
Employment in these kinds of jobs rose from 1,255 in 2021 to 1,328 in 2022, an increase of about 75 positions. Those 1,328 jobs generated $59.6 million in income, paid $13.1 million in state and local taxes and another $12.7 million in federal taxes in 2022.
The report notes that statewide tourism is nearly back to its pre-pandemic levels.
“In 2022, traveler spending in Pennsylvania continued to regain the ground lost due to the pandemic. With growth in overnight visits and business travel recovering, traveler spending increased 19% to within 1.5 percent of pre-pandemic levels. While PA’s visitor volume increases were strong, they were tempered by moderating growth in day-trips impacted by the rise in gasoline prices.”
Kuzo said her office, which is funded by the county’s hotel occupancy tax, uses stays at hotels as an indicator of tourism in the Lebanon Valley. Guests who pay the occupancy tax include those who stay at hotels, motels, inns, Airbnbs, VRBOs, and campgrounds with running water. (The county gets a portion of that tax revenue as does the Lebanon Valley Exposition Center & Fairgrounds, according to Kuzo.)
“Our hotel occupancy figures are up 319 percent in the last eight years, so I know the demand and the interest is winning,” said Kuzo. “That’s a good sign for us and an obvious way to measure our success and the growth of the county. It is a combined success for everything that’s happening.”
She noted that Lebanon County’s proximity to such tourist hotspots as Hershey and Lancaster County contribute to the Lebanon Valley’s tourism figures.
“Yes, we’re getting overflow from Hershey and Lancaster. We can see it in the developments that are coming up,” Kuzo said. “We can see it in the businesses that are popping up. And we’re working harder than ever to create more reasons to come to the Lebanon Valley.”
Within Lebanon County, Kuzo noted the annual Lebanon Area Fair is one of the biggest economic contributors to county tourism because it runs eight days.
Another is the county’s expo center, which operates events throughout the year.
Its website says the grounds feature “75,000 square feet of indoor exhibition space within eight adjoining buildings, 70-plus acres of fairgrounds, and state-of-the-art livestock and equestrian facilities.”
“Pat Kerwin and the expo are doing a wonderful job,” said Kuzo. “He might have 300 groups a year that are using and planning events at the expo center. They work hard to meet and fill that need.”
Expo center executive director Pat Kerwin said the facility’s calendar is one that is nearly full but is still managing to grow. (LebTown runs a monthly calendar of events held at the expo center for its readers.)
“There’s something going on here almost every day of the year except major holidays – although some of those dates are starting to fill in too,” said Kerwin.
Kuzo also cited the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area as a major draw for tourists who come to witness the migrating snow geese who stop there overnight (although those feathered friends aren’t counted as tourists nor do they pay the hotel occupancy tax fee).
Another top tourist event in the Lebanon Valley for people who live outside of Pennsylvania is the Mount Gretna Outdoor Art Show. The art show could see a boost in attendance in 2024 with the LebTown-exclusive announcement of the first-ever international film festival premiere during arts fest this August.
Read More: Lights, camera, action: International film festival to debut at Mt. Gretna art show
“The art show brings thousands of people to the area and a lot of them – because it is a juried art show – are artists from all over the country and we get a lot of people from New York and New Jersey who come down for the show,” said Kuzo. “All you need to do is look at the license plates in the parking lot. You will see Virginia and Maryland and (cars) from all over.”
To discover events happening in the Lebanon Valley, check out the full schedule on the Visit Lebanon Valley’s events page and LebTown’s Lebanon County Events Calendar, which was launched earlier this year. Readers may also submit events to our events page here.
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