Gov. Shapiro wants more tourists in Pennsylvania. What could that mean for the state?
After a drop in visitors during the pandemic’s early days, tourist numbers are on the rise.
When Dani Ober moved from the Lancaster farm she grew up on to attend college at Temple University in Philadelphia, she discovered people would consistently assume she’s Amish.
“This shocked me,” Ober wrote in an email to the Pennsylvania Independent. “I couldn’t believe that I was only 1.5 hours away from home, and people didn’t know that, one, I was clearly not Amish, and two, that Lancaster has more than just farmlands and an Amish community. It seemed like that was the only thing people associated with Lancaster.”
After graduating from Temple with a degree in special education in 2019, Ober returned to Lancaster and decided she wanted to start showcasing what her home community has to offer. She created TikTok and Instagram accounts to share places to stay and things to do in the region.
Over the past five years, Ober has been doing what Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, is advocating: getting more people to explore the Keystone State. In his 2024-25 budget, the Democratic governor called for the state to spend an additional $18 million on tourism marketing. State lawmakers on July 11 passed a budget that included a $15 million increase to boost tourism; Shapiro signed the budget bills into law that night.
In May, Shapiro launched a new state tourism brand, “Pennsylvania: The Great American Getaway,” and has since traveled more than 1,500 miles in an RV to promote a range of small businesses and recreation spots. That brand rollout coincides with Pennsylvania gearing up to host celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
“More people deserve the chance to come here and experience the magic of Pennsylvania for themselves,” Shapiro said in a press release announcing the new tourism brand. “Seventy-two million people live within a four-hour drive of Pennsylvania — and once you’re here, you’ll find there’s something for every member of the family.”
The increase in state spending on tourism is being welcomed by the state’s economic development officials.
“For more than a decade, other states — including our neighbors in Ohio and New York – have spent significantly more than us to attract visitors,” Anne Ryan, deputy secretary of tourism for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, wrote to the Pennsylvania Independent. “Governor Shapiro has proposed the first major increase in funding to promote Pennsylvania’s tourism industry in years.”
Tourism is on the rise in Pennsylvania following a significant drop in the numbers of visitors during the early days of Covid. A report prepared for the Pennsylvania Office of Tourism and published in February 2024 shows that 192.4 million visitors came to the commonwealth in 2022, about 12.2 million more people than in 2021. That number isn’t yet more than it was before the pandemic, but it did reach 91% of its 2019 level, and officials expect it to keep rising.
The report states that visitors generated $76.7 billion in economic impact in the state, supported 486,871 jobs, and contributed $4.7 billion in state and local taxes.
An influx of people traveling to Pennsylvania translates to job growth, more money for small businesses, and more taxes going to the state, which in turn can be spent on community development and infrastructure, state and local officials said. Joel Cliff, the director of communications for Discover Lancaster, the county’s tourism agency, explained that the money tourists spend in Lancaster means businesses and other venues are able to expand and attract more visitors.
“We obviously have quite a bit of medical facilities out here, and when they’re bringing in a new round of doctors to [Lancaster] General [Hospital], I think they’re appreciative of being able to say, We’ve got this fantastic downtown with all these amazing artistic and food and cultural offerings,” Cliff said.
Lancaster is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Pennsylvania. According to 2022 data, the Dutch Country Roads region in Lancaster, Berks and York counties attracted the greatest number of visitors among Pennsylvania’s 11 tourism regions. The second most popular region in 2022 was the Philadelphia area, followed by Pittsburgh.
It’s not just the out-of-state visitors Shapiro cited that tourism advocates want to see traveling around the commonwealth. Ober and Cliff want Pennsylvanians to trek around their home state.
“When locals explore their own state, they strengthen community ties, support small businesses and build a greater sense of pride and belonging,” Ober wrote. “I think it’s important for Pennsylvanians to see firsthand the beauty and diversity of their home (which can also lead to more informed and passionate advocacy for the state’s needs and growth)!”
If more state lawmakers traveled outside of their districts, their policymaking could end up being more inclusive, Ober pointed out.
“If lawmakers and locals spend more time exploring the diverse regions of Pennsylvania, it could lead to more balanced state policies and funding allocations, as they gain a better understanding of the needs and potentials of different areas,” Ober wrote.
Pennsylvanians are making their way to Lancaster County, Cliff said, and he attributed the recent growth in the region’s tourism numbers to state residents as well as out-of-state tourists returning to the area after visiting it for outdoor experiences during the earlier days of the pandemic. While the area has long attracted people interested in learning more about its Amish community, Lancaster has increasing numbers of restaurants, theater offerings and outdoor activities.
“Lancaster City continues to grow and change and evolve and surprise, for lack of a more precise word, because a lot of folks know us for the Amish community and don’t even necessarily realize that we have a downtown, nor how kind of hip yet historic it is,” Cliff said.
