Visitors Spent $7.6 Billion In The Philadelphia Region Last Year

PHILADELPHIA — A record 45 million people visited the five-county Philadelphia region last year and spent billions of dollars in doing so, according to officials.

The City of Philadelphia, in partnership with VISIT PHILADELPHIA and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), Wednesday announced the number of visitors and total spent by tourists.

2018's figures mark the ninth consecutive year of growth.

An increase in overnight visitation contributed to additional tourism industry records: $7.6 billion in direct visitor spending, which directly supported 103,800 jobs across various industries in both the private and public sectors.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) also contributed to the industry’s growth, reporting a record 32.24 million airport passengers during its fiscal year (July 2018 through June 2019).

"Tourism and hospitality are critical to Philadelphia’s economy and our identity as a city," said Mayor Jim Kenney. "The efforts of our tourism partners continue to exceed all expectations—bringing more visitors, more jobs, and more revenue to Philadelphia year after year. The latest numbers shared by VISIT PHILADELPHIA, the PHLCVB, and Philadelphia International Airport prove that this city is still on the rise. We are proud to show our city off to the millions of people who visit each year and we are eager to continue telling our story to the world."

Regional Visitation Breakdown:

• A record 45 million people visited the region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties) from the U.S. and international markets—that’s up almost 2 percent from 2017.
  • Of the 45 million, 44.1 million were domestic visitors—1.8 percent more than in 2017.
    • Domestic overnight visitation increased 3.4 percent, the largest increase since 2011.
  • Greater Philadelphia continues to see strong growth in overseas visitation with the Asia-Pacific region leading the way. The PHLCVB will finalize and release detailed overseas visitor data in the coming weeks.
  • A record 32.24 million airplane passengers flew in or out of PHL in fiscal year 2018—an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year.

Regional Visitor Spending, Economic Impact & Jobs:

• Visitors spent $7.6 billion—that’s 6.1 percent more than in 2017 and the biggest upswing since 2011. This direct visitor spending:
  • Generated $12.2 billion (or $33.3 million per day) in economic impact, a 5.9 percent increase over 2017.
  • Generated $980 million in state and local tax revenue, an increase of 4.6 percent over 2017, which helps support priority programs such as social and public services, and travel and tourism marketing and sales efforts.
  • Directly supported 103,800 jobs across major employment sectors (food and beverage, lodging, transportation, recreation and retail), a 5.5 percent increase over 2017. This total equates to 56 percent of the 187,300 leisure and hospitality-related jobs in the region.

The Greater Philadelphia tourism and hospitality industry is showing strong and satisfactory returns through the first seven months of 2019.

Center City hotel demand and occupancy are performing as predicted in 2019, while average daily rate (ADR) and revenue have increased 5.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

PHL is also on track to set another all-time high for annual passenger volume in fiscal year 2019.