BUCKS COUNTY, PA (October 12, 2023) – Nearly 200 tourism professionals and local organizations gathered at Visit Bucks County’s (VBC) Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 11. Sharon Rossi, VBC’s Board Chair opened the meeting at the Terrain Gardens at DelVal. 

Paul Bencivengo, President & COO of Visit Bucks County, conveyed Visit Bucks County’s support for the industry, including marketing and advocating on behalf of the organization’s 1,600 partners.

Kelley Keeling, Senior Research & Destination Development Manager, reviewed VBC’s data and research and the annual measurement of the economic impact of visitor spending in Bucks County.

In 2022, Bucks County welcomed 8 million visitors, generating $1.2 billion dollars in economic impact and supporting a total hospitality workforce of more than 27,800 jobs. These key visitation and impact metrics show healthy year over year growth for the industry. (source: Econsult Solutions Inc.)

2023 has been a strong year for the travel industry, with key indicators remaining consistent with a strong 2022. Bucks County hotel occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and revenue per available room (RevPAR) are matched with 2022 and average daily rate and revenue per available room have exceeded 2019 levels. (source: Smith Travel Research)

Keeling also highlighted Visit Bucks County’s ongoing partnership with the County of Bucks on the Bucks County Tourism Grant Program. Now in its 16th year, the Bucks County Tourism Grant Program has distributed more $6 million dollars to more than 120 hospitality organizations to support new projects and enhancements in marketing, special events, exhibits and product development.

While sharing the team’s efforts in the meetings and group markets this year, Lisa Paglaiccetti, Visit Bucks County’s Industry Relations & Visitor Services Director, announced Visit Bucks County has won the bid to host the Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association’s Spring Association Meeting in April of 2024.

Requests for Bucks County information continue to remain strong. Visit Bucks County has fulfilled more than 24,000 printed Destination Guides requests this year.

Visit Bucks County has increased sales efforts in the weddings, meeting and group tour markets attending more than 40 tradeshows, events and wedding expos this year. 

Visit Bucks County’s mobile Visitor Center greeted guests as they arrived at the event. The freshly wrapped vehicle looks like a covered bridge; promoting Bucks County’s 12 covered bridges found on the self-guided driving tour. The mobile visitor center will be making its way around the county to area attractions, festivals and events to meet visitors where they are.

VBC is now offering complimentary concierge training for tourism and hospitality industry organizations training frontline staff on all that Bucks County has to offer visitors. 

Heather Walter, Marketing Director of Visit Bucks County, shared marketing initiatives, including enhanced focus on content creation and optimization across social media platforms.

VBC’s social channels have grown rapidly in the past year. Video views are up more than 1,000% on Instagram, 250% on TikTok and 40% on YouTube since 2022, with video reels creating the largest traction.

 “Different generations are consuming media differently,” said Walter on the different spaces that users are finding content. When monitoring analytics beyond VBC’s website, social channels have gained more than 100 million impressions in 2023 vs. 2022 with Facebook being the leading source, Instagram second, followed by TikTok and YouTube. 

As a result of the digital and social media focus, more traffic is being driven to visitbuckscounty.com with pageviews up 125% vs. 2022.

Walter also highlighted the ongoing success of the Bucks County Ale Trail as it enters its fifth year. A new passport will be launching this month that is points based with new prizes including t-shirts, hoodies and hats.

Billboards and commercials continue to be an important initiative for Bucks County to remain a top-of-mind destination. With the holiday season right around the corner, Visit Bucks County released their new holiday commercial that will run in digital, streaming and broadcast TV in the Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C. markets in November and December.

 

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ANNUAL MEETING PRESENTATION, PHOTOS, VIDEO & LINKS:


Contact:    
Megan Connelly
Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Visit Bucks County
215-639-0300 x 237
MeganC@VisitBucksCounty.com

 

About Visit Bucks County

Visit Bucks County (VBC) promotes travel to and within Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As the County’s official destination marketing organization, VBC drives visitation, increases overnight stays and fuels the local economy by promoting all there is to see and do in Bucks County. VBC supports local businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry, including lodging, attractions, restaurants, retail, events and more.  Annually, Bucks County welcomes 8 million visitors, generating nearly $1.2 billion dollars in economic impact and supporting a total hospitality workforce of more than 27,800 jobs.