Philly’s tourism economy is still chugging along, with notable uptick from summer hotel travel

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It was an unexpectedly hot day when a family of five visited Philadelphia from New York City this summer. The Weinbergs had several young children in tow so they rented a quad pedal bike to explore Kelly Drive with views of the Schuylkill River.

They also popped into the Philadelphia Mint, a branch of the U.S. Mint on Independence Mall, nearby one of the city’s historic districts.

“There’s a lot of fun things to do in Philly,” said the father, Tzvi Weinberg. “We’re big fans.”

Over the past summer, there were a lot of Philly fans staying overnight in Center City.

Hotel occupancy in the urban core was 73% between May 25 and Aug. 31, that’s a 9.5% increase over the year, according to Visit Philly hotel stay data.

This “upward trend in hotel occupancy and demand” signals “continued recovery and growth in our travel and hospitality sector,” according to Visit Philly officials.

And it’s a sizable improvement compared to 2022 – a jump of 24%, data shows.

Leisure travel rebounds while business lags

“So we’re looking at this year as being a year where we get back to hotel room demand that’s about equal to 2019 levels,” said Aran Ryan, director of industry studies at Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company.

Another common metric is the “average daily rate,” which is how much hotels cost – in Center City that increased by 0.3% between 2023 and 2024.

That last bit, about hotel room prices, was somewhat surprising despite increased demand, Ryan said.

“It looked like the [average daily rate] growth was not particularly strong,” he said. “Typically with that much demand growth [year-over-year] we would have expected to see stronger pricing gains. I think that’s something we’ll be looking for in the future.”

Nationwide, for urban markets there’s been a slower recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic for business travel and “group” travel which could be conventions or meetings, he said. Philadelphia has tracked the national market in general.

“Philly has seen stronger leisure room nights than in 2019 so we’ve had that segment of the market recover but are still waiting for those other two segments [business and group] to fully come back,” he said.

As the city gears up for its big year in 2026, there’s an expected 500,000 visitors among a trifecta of events.

That includes the FIFA World Cup soccer games, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the 250th birthday of America – all happening in July 2026.

The international traveler boost

For international events like that, it’s likely travelers from around the globe will visit, said Yang Yang, Temple University professor and executive director of the U.S.-Asia Center for Tourism and Hospitality Research.

And when international visitors do come to the region, their most common activity is shopping at American brand name stores, he said.

“Believe it or not, even though we are very close to New York City, we are close to D.C., [international] flights from the Philadelphia International Airport are increasing,” Yang said.

While much of the travelers since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly five years ago are more likely to be Canadian or European, there’s a recovery among travelers hailing from China, he said.

“International tourism is not fully recovered until the Chinese market to Philadelphia gets recovered because of the spending power. They fly a long distance to Philadelphia and we have some big advantages for Asian markets – one of them is shopping,” he said.

One travel trend is that visitors are seeking unique experiences and not the same destinations, even within markets.

“People are traveling with a larger variety of motivations and different demands. We have to cater to their specific demand,” he said.

The financial sound of music

Like how different music genres tend to attract different crowds.

Philly music producer David Ivory once served on the city’s music industry task force.

He argues that city leaders don’t always recognize the economic impact of the music industry, especially for anything beyond the major acts like Beyonce or Taylor Swift in South Philly.

For example, The Dresden Dolls played two sold out shows in a row at the Union Transfer in Philadelphia in June.

“People are staying somewhere [overnight], they’re spending money, eating food. But nobody puts money into [music support or] research. We’re missing the boat,” said Ivory, director of sound recording and music technology at Montgomery County Community College and longtime music producer. “They’ll promote the Kimmel Center and that kind of stuff but who’s playing at the Fillmore, Johnny Brenda’s or in the suburbs.”

He says the challenge in improving the homegrown music scene – into tomorrow’s next big acts – is the lack of support unlike other metros like Los Angeles or Nashville.

“They all have a sense of their music community. They have a sense of where they’ve been, where they’re going,” he said. “Their creative people don’t move away. Whereas in Philadelphia, the moment you get anything going on, people just leave.”

For the Weinberg family, pedal bicycling on Kelly Drive during the workweek was the getaway they needed. And the often crowded multi-purpose trail near Strawberry Mansion was easily navigable – even for children who couldn’t all reach the pedals.

As the family headed back towards the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the children stayed cool under the bike canopy.

Father Weinberg said on hot days when traveling it’s best to be prepared and stay upbeat – especially in a city where outdoor activities such as walking or bicycling is a novel way to see the sights.

“The first thing we do is have a positive attitude. And the next thing we do is freeze some powerades before we [headed] out here,” Weinberg said. “We’re having fun.”