It keeps businesses growing, communities thriving, and people working.
The “Lancaster County Visitor Economy” report completed in May 2023 by the respected industry analysts at Tourism Economics contains figures that demonstrate why organizations like Discover Lancaster are so crucial.
Through an analysis of key performance indicators, the study describes the economic impact of this important work, the highlights of which include:
An estimated 9.77 million visitors to Lancaster County directly spent $2.45 billion in 2022 (representing gains of 7.1% and 15.5%, respectively, over 2021), creating a total tourism impact of $3.26 billion in the county.
This visitor spending supported 24,481 county jobs in total, including 15,996 direct industry jobs. These figures both grew by 5-6% in 2022 and kept tourism in the Top 10 largest non-agriculture private sector employers in the county, but also show the notable number of jobs that remained outstanding, as they were still 6-7% below 2019 levels.
State and local tax revenue generated by the tourism industry saved each Lancaster County household from paying an additional estimated $1,133 annually in such taxes in order to maintain current services.