Pennsylvania recorded 201.6 million visitors in 2024, including 130.6 million day visitors and 71.0 million overnight visitors. Visitor spending reached $49.855 billion, with food and beverage purchases accounting for $11.090 billion. These figures come from Economic Impact of Visitors in Pennsylvania 2024, whose visitor-economy modeling separates direct, indirect, and induced effects.
Contents
- Pennsylvania visitor volume and trip mix
- Visitor spending and dining demand
- Tourism’s economic impact and GDP
- Jobs and income supported by visitors
- Taxes and tourism investment
- Parks, outdoor recreation, and fairs
Pennsylvania visitor volume and trip mix
Pennsylvania’s total visitor count rose from 151.6 million in 2020 to 180.2 million in 2021 and 192.4 million in 2022. The state then received 127.1 million day visitors and 69.5 million overnight visitors in 2023. In 2024, total visitation increased 2.5% to 201.6 million.
The 2024 mix included 130.6 million day trips, up 2.8% from 2023, and 71.0 million overnight trips, up 2.0%. The comparable 2022 totals were 124.5 million day visitors and 67.9 million overnight visitors. In other words, both trip types grew through the period, while day trips remained the larger part of Pennsylvania’s visitor volume.
Trip type matters because overnight visitors spent substantially more per person. In 2024, overnight visitors spent $428 per person in Pennsylvania, compared with $149 for day visitors. Overnight visitors generated 61% of total visitor spending, while day visitors generated 39%.
Leisure travel represented 87.3% of Pennsylvania visitor spending in 2024, compared with 12.7% for business travel. Domestic visitors accounted for 95.6% of spending, while international visitors represented 4.4%.
Visitor spending and dining demand
Pennsylvania visitors spent $49.855 billion in 2024, an increase of 4.2% from $47.860 billion in 2023. Spending in 2022 was $45.351 billion. Average spending was $247 per visitor in 2024, compared with $243 in 2023.
Food and beverage was a major part of that visitor economy. Visitors spent $11.090 billion on food and beverages in 2024, up 5.5% year over year. The comparable totals were $10.511 billion in 2023 and $9.839 billion in 2022. For readers comparing dining markets, these are the closest official statewide measures of tourism-related dining demand; they include visitor purchases rather than only restaurant meals.
Other 2024 visitor spending categories were also substantial:
| Category | Pennsylvania visitor spending in 2024 | Change from prior year |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation | $14.926 billion | Up 3.5% |
| Food and beverage | $11.090 billion | Up 5.5% |
| Recreation | $9.697 billion | Up 6.4% |
| Retail | $7.538 billion | Up 2.5% |
| Lodging | $6.604 billion | Up 2.4% |
Recreation spending was $9.117 billion in 2023 and $8.253 billion in 2022. Lodging, transportation, retail, recreation, and food and beverage therefore form a connected spending picture: visitors’ dining activity sits alongside travel, entertainment, shopping, and accommodation purchases.
Regional results can look very different from the statewide totals. In the Great Lakes region, visitors generated $1.9532 billion in total spending and $440.3 million in food-and-beverage spending in 2024. Those figures are regional estimates and should not be treated as statewide averages.
Tourism’s economic impact and GDP
Pennsylvania tourism generated $83.949 billion in total business sales impact in 2024. That total included $52.528 billion in direct sales, $14.893 billion in indirect sales, and $16.527 billion in induced sales. Direct activity reflects visitor demand, while indirect and induced effects capture additional economic activity associated with tourism’s supply chain and household spending.
The visitor economy generated $40.475 billion in Pennsylvania GDP in 2024, equal to 4.0% of the state economy. Tourism demand totaled $52.528 billion, up 4.1% from 2023. Domestic visitor demand was $47.675 billion, up 3.6%, while international visitor demand totaled $2.180 billion, up 17.6% from 2023.
Dining-related tourism also had a measurable economic footprint beyond visitor receipts. Food and beverage tourism generated $12.760 billion in total business sales impact in 2024. Its GDP components were $4.546 billion in direct GDP, $361 million in indirect GDP, and $597 million in induced GDP.
Tourism generated $26.489 billion in total personal income in 2024, including $15.151 billion in direct income. The report also identifies $5.284 billion in indirect personal income. These are modeled economic-impact measures, not a claim that every dollar was paid directly to tourism workers.
Jobs and income supported by visitors
Visitor activity supported 514,261 total Pennsylvania jobs in 2024, equal to 6.3% of all state jobs. Direct visitor activity supported 324,972 jobs, up 1.3% year over year. Indirect and induced visitor activity supported an additional 173,991 jobs.
Food and beverage tourism supported 132,663 total jobs, including 112,414 direct jobs. Visitor spending supported 26% of Pennsylvania food-and-beverage employment in 2024. Food-and-beverage tourism also generated $3.792 billion in total personal income.
For comparison, recreation and entertainment tourism supported 61,492 total jobs, while lodging tourism supported 57,767 total jobs, including 57,394 direct lodging jobs. The report describes visitor spending as supporting nearly all lodging employment. These categories overlap with the wider visitor economy’s indirect and induced effects, so their job counts should be read as sector measures rather than added to create a new statewide total.
| Tourism area | Total jobs supported in 2024 | Direct jobs noted in the report |
|---|---|---|
| All Pennsylvania tourism | 514,261 | 324,972 |
| Food and beverage | 132,663 | 112,414 |
| Recreation and entertainment | 61,492 | Not stated in the supplied figure |
| Lodging | 57,767 | 57,394 |
The broader income figures follow the same structure. Pennsylvania tourism generated $15.151 billion in direct personal income and $5.284 billion in indirect personal income in 2024, while the total personal-income impact was $26.489 billion.
Taxes and tourism investment
Pennsylvania visitor activity generated $10.516 billion in total government tax revenues in 2024. This included $5.017 billion in state and local taxes: $2.699 billion in state taxes and $2.318 billion in local taxes. Federal taxes generated by visitor activity totaled $5.500 billion.
The state-tax detail included $1.797 billion in sales taxes and $410 million in personal-income taxes. Local taxes included $1.535 billion in property taxes and $259 million in lodging taxes. State and local visitor-generated taxes increased from $4.835 billion in 2023 to $5.017 billion in 2024.
The impact report compared the 2024 state and local total with a replacement-tax measure of $950 per state household. That is a comparison used by the report, not a separate tax bill assessed to each household.
Tourism-related capital investment totaled $2.064 billion in 2024, including $1.213 billion in machinery and equipment and $851 million in construction. Earlier totals were $2.017 billion in 2023 and $1.965 billion in 2022. These investment figures describe tourism-related capital formation and are distinct from visitor spending.
Parks, outdoor recreation, and fairs
Official agency estimates add context for outdoor and event tourism, although their measurement periods differ from the 2024 statewide Tourism Economics report. Pennsylvania’s 124 state parks attract about 40 million visitors annually, with roughly one-quarter coming from out of state. These are annual estimates reported in 2023 by the Pennsylvania governor’s office, not relabeled 2026 data. The same report says outdoor recreation adds $14 billion annually to the state economy and supports 150,000 jobs. Lehigh Gorge State Park receives about 500,000 visitors annually.
Fair tourism provides another statewide and rural-community measure. Pennsylvania’s county and local fairs comprise 107 events and attract about 4 million visitors annually, according to a study reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture in January 2025. Fair visitors spend $673 million annually in largely rural communities, while the fairs contribute $1.14 billion to the state economy. The annual estimates also associate these fairs with more than 10,700 full-time jobs and $21.3 million in tax revenue.
The 2024 Great Allentown Fair offers a single-event example from that fair season: an estimated 167,300 attendees, a $62.5 million economic impact, and more than 600 supported jobs. Because the attendance and impact are estimates for one fair, they should not be combined with the statewide annual fair totals as though they were separate statewide categories.
Together, the park and fair figures show why Pennsylvania tourism reaches beyond overnight lodging and large urban attractions. Outdoor destinations and local events generate visitor volume and economic activity, while dining, recreation, transportation, and retail spending connect those visits to communities across the state.