More than 200 tourism and hospitality professionals and local organizations gathered at Visit Bucks County’s Annual Event, which took place at The Lake House Inn.
After VBC board chair Doug Miller opened the meeting, Paul Bencivengo, president and CEO of Visit Bucks County, conveyed VBC’s support for the industry, including marketing initiatives and advocacy on behalf of Bucks County’s tourism and hospitality businesses. Bencivengo also emphasized the importance of partnerships with local economic and workforce development agencies, as well as regional and state tourism organizations.
Kelley Keeling, research and destination development director, reviewed VBC’s data, research and annual measurement of the economic impact of visitor spending in Bucks County.
In 2023, Bucks County welcomed 8.2 million visitors, generating $1.2 billion in economic impact and supporting a total hospitality workforce of 28,675 jobs. These key visitation and impact metrics show healthy year-over-year growth for the industry.
2024 has been a strong year for the travel industry, with Bucks County lodging occupancy trending higher than in the past two years. Year to date, occupancy is up more than 4% compared to 2023.
Looking ahead, Bucks County lodging room revenue is projected to grow by 4.3% in 2025.
Keeling also highlighted Visit Bucks County’s ongoing partnership with the County of Bucks through the Bucks County Tourism Grant Program. Now in its 17th year, the program has distributed $6.4 million to more than 130 hospitality organizations to support new projects and enhancements in marketing, special events, exhibits and product development.
Lisa Paglaicetti, senior industry relations and visitor services director, shared that Visit Bucks County’s Industry Relations and Visitor Services team had a successful year focused on enhancing regional tourism through collaboration with local businesses. They launched the Economic Impact Roadshow to educate elected officials on the economic significance of tourism, emphasizing the need for community engagement.
This year also saw the introduction of Concierge Training to empower frontline staff with valuable insights and knowledge to improve the overall visitor experience. Additionally, the mobile visitor center connected with more than 14,000 future visitors at various festivals and events, further promoting the region.
Sales efforts continued for VBC, driving ongoing engagement and growth. The weddings market plays a significant role in Bucks County’s local economy, with VBC participating in six wedding expos and connecting with close to 2,000 engaged couples. Bucks County’s group tour market remains strong with VBC attending seven group tour shows, strengthening ties with over 1,000 group tour operators.
Heather Walter, senior director of marketing and communications, proudly announced that Bucks County has been recognized as the No. 1 Leaf Peeping Destination in the nation by Priceline, Travel + Leisure, Forbes, The New York Times and over 30 other media outlets.
Building on search and analytics insights from previous years, the team strategically branded the seasons — promoting “Fall in Bucks County,” “Holidays in Bucks County” and more — to ensure that travelers searching for these terms would find Bucks County. By rebranding campaign visuals, such as billboards and television commercials, and optimizing VBC’s digital presence through SEO and paid search campaigns, VBC successfully captured the attention of visitors and media eager to experience and write about the charm of each season.
Since the announcement of this accolade, VBC has seen significant growth in traffic to VisitBucksCounty.com, particularly on lodging landing pages. Notable increases were observed from key markets like New York (up 61%), Philadelphia (up 8%) and Washington, D.C. (up 47%) versus 2023. VBC’s targeted approach, leveraging social media and influencer partnerships, has resulted in impressive reach and engagement, with views in the millions.
VBC also focused on partnerships with influencers in 2024, specifically engaging with social media influencers with a following in the New York and Northern New Jersey areas to attract overnight visitors. These influencers reached diverse audiences and aided in growing VBC’s social media following by 9% on Facebook and 25% on Instagram.
VBC will continue all this momentum by launching a brand-new website before the end of the year. With 82% of traffic to VisitBucksCounty.com coming from mobile devices, this site will be designed to appeal to both mobile and desktop users. The design will showcase the history, culture and beauty of Bucks County, emphasizing photography and high-quality, user-focused content that will rank in search engines and AI algorithms as the organization continues to stay on the cutting edge of digital strategy.
