EMERGING FESTIVALS & CULTURAL EVENTS FUND

VisitPITTSBURGH’s new Emerging Festivals & Cultural Events Fund helped 10 new or established festivals expand their marketing efforts to attract additional outside visitation into Allegheny County. Events that received funding in 2022 included:

• Allentown Night Market

• DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh

• CLAS Latin American & Caribbean Festival

• Three Rivers Beer Week

• Pittsburgh Irish Festival

• Asian Lantern Festival

• Pittsburgh Mixed Culture

• Light of Light Yinzer 4.12K Race

• Pittsburgh Black Music Festival

• Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books

The team entered 2022 with the goal of bringing VisitPITTSBURGH’s partner base back to prepandemic levels while also providing the opportunity for new partners to benefit from the economic impact that tourism produces in Allegheny County. A specific key initiative was to increase the number of diverse partners to best represent the overall Pittsburgh community. The team presented a new tiered partnership program to reflect the changes in the economic landscape for VisitPITTSBURGH’s partner ecosystem.

Major progress also was made in 2022 on the Destination Master Plan (DMP). High-level strategies and approaches of the DMP were created from market research, assessments and engagements with local residents, visitors and stakeholders both directly and indirectly involved in tourism in Allegheny County.

This process includes many touchpoints, with major drivers of the research including:

• Destination assessment and benchmarking

• Infrastructure analysis

• Hospitality labor and workforce analysis

• One-on-one interviews with 100+ industry stakeholders

• Focus group sessions

• Visioning sessions with 50+ industry stakeholders

• Surveying of approximately 3,000 visitors and residents

These drivers led to 40+ strategies and 80+ actions that will eventually make up the DMP.

Target audiences include:

• Local Allegheny County residents

• Regional Pittsburgh MSA residents

• Drive market visitors

• Fly market visitors

Work on the DMP is expected to wrap up in April 2023, with roll out to the community expected throughout the summer months.