2018 Centre County Visitation Analysis

Visitation Analysis for Centre County, PA Calendar Year 2018 analysis

Centre County visitation estimates  Centre County/Visit Penn State CVB has engaged Tourism Economics to provide an estimation of visitation to Centre County for 2018.  Visitation estimates have been calculated using data from Centre County and Tourism Economics’ work with the State of Pennsylvania.  Visitation has been calculated in several different manners with the final results reflecting Centre County visitation and pegged to regional totals from the state work for ease of comparison in the future.

Geographies  Data from two geographies was used in calculating the estimates: ■ Centre County specific data ■ Alleghenies and her Valleys data

 Alleghenies and her Valleys consists of the following counties: ■ Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, and Mifflin.

Data sources  Estimating visitation for Centre County uses several different data sources. Among them are: ■ STR – room demand information for both the county and region ■ Visitor survey information ● DKS survey information specific to Centre County ● Longwoods visitation estimates for the region

■ VisaVue data (credit card purchases in the county) ■ 2nd home data – from economic census ■ Household information – from U.S. Dept. of Census ■ Industry information – QCEW wage data

Data  Key data for 2018 include: ■ STR room demand – 650-700K in Centre County in 2018, half of all room demand in the region.

■ Visitor survey information. ● 65% stay in Paid Accommodations, 11% in Paid – Non-Hotel, 24% in nonpaid Lodging in Centre County. ● Average travel party size of 1.68. ● Average length of stay of 1.85 days. ● Longwoods visitation estimates for the region – 11.9 million visitors of which 4.3 million were overnight guests.

Data  Key data for 2018 include: ■ 2nd home data: ● ~3,450 2nd homes in Centre County ● ~14,300 2nd homes in Alleghenies and her Valleys − Huntingdon County is only county in region with more 2nd homes (and only slightly bigger)

■ Household information: ● 162,000 households in Centre County ● ~600,000 households in the region − Centre County is largest county with Blair and Cambria next largest

Calculations  Room demand information used for overnight hotel stay calculations.

■ This calculation included data on length of stay and party size

 2nd home data was used as a proxy for other paid overnight stays.  Household information was used in the estimate of non-paid lodging.

Calculations  Along with the overnight information, day visitation estimated include information on industry shares of the region. Industries examined include: ■ Recreation ■ Food & beverages (restaurants) ■ Retail

Total visitation ď Ź Centre County saw 4.3 million visitors in 2018, 37% overnight visitors.

Centre County Visitation Millions and percent of total

1.60m overnight visitors

2.70m day visitors

63%

Source: Tourism Economics

4.30m visitors

37%

Overnight visitation ď Ź Of the 1.6 million overnight visitors, 1.2 million were paid hotel visitors with another 325,000 non-paid overnight stays.

Centre County overnight visitors Millions and percent of total

1,167K paid Hotel visitors

Source: Tourism Economics

1,605K overnight visitors total

114K paid NonHotel visitors

325K Non-paid Lodging visitors

For more information: Adam Sacks, Managing Director adam@tourismeconomics.com Christopher Pike, Director cpike@tourismeconomics.com