By all measures, The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau has expectations that 2023 will be a banner year for sports, leisure and business visitation to Happy Valley.

[This HVAB Tourism Insights column appeared in the Sunday, Jan. 22 edition of The Centre Daily Times].

We are already off to a good start. For the first week in January, hotel occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room (RevPAR) – key hotel performance metrics – were all up over 2022 levels, despite our hotel room inventory being down 6.5 percent.

As a benchmark for growth moving forward, 2022 itself produced fantastic numbers in comparison to 2021. Statewide, Happy Valley ranked third or higher in growth over 2021 in four out of six metrics: occupancy percentage, RevPAR percentage, demand percentage and revenue percentage. Only Philadelphia and Allegheny counties – consistent leaders – performed better in those categories.

The year also revealed clear visitation trends, hoped for outcomes from strategic destination marketing decisions, and a strong foundation for the current year.

Major investments – including a $250,000 American Rescue Plan grant from the county and $475,000 in HVAB funding for winter, spring, summer and fall 2022 marketing campaigns – resulted in significant increases in visitor spending, and signs of that spending beginning to be distributed more throughout the county. In 2019, 85 percent of visitor spending was concentrated in State College. Last year, that number was 74 percent, indicating spending growth in other communities. The county also experienced growth in targeted visitation markets.

Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Harrisburg/Hershey/Lancaster/Lebanon/York (HLLY) were the top overnight markets last year, with Johnstown-Altoona, Wilkes-Barre –Scranton and New York City recording the highest overnight market growth since 2019. HLLY also emerged as the top spend market (25 percent in 2022 versus 6.3 percent in 2019).

The biggest gain in the visitor age bracket was 45-54, which was the HVAB’s primary target audience for its April- November marketing campaigns because of their flexibility to visit during the week.

Another hoped for metric strength was website sessions on Happyvalley.com, which were up 23.2 percent over 2021, with website users up 22.3 percent. We expect website traffic to continue to strengthen, particularly with the anticipated launch later this spring of the new HVAB website designed by Bellefonte firm 3Twenty9 Design.

These and other data points tracked by the HVAB demonstrate one thing – interest in Happy Valley as a desirable tourism destination is on the increase. In fact, three athletic events have gotten so big due to the popularity of Happy Valley that those tournaments are splitting into two weekends. With major events such as the Happy Valley Girls Volleyball Rally, Happy Valley Comic Con and Ironman 70.3 Happy Valley Triathlon being held here for the first time, new audiences will get to experience our beautiful valleys.

Even the one unknown of how consumers will adjust travel plans in response to rising costs could bode well for Happy Valley. National research conducted by Skift Research indicates that consumers likely won’t cancel or delay plans as occurred during the pandemic, but will spend less while traveling. This includes choosing less expensive destinations, spending less on food and activities and choosing less expensive hotels. As an affordable drive market destination, we stand to benefit from this visitation trend, much like our abundant outdoors made Happy Valley desirable during the pandemic.

The HVAB team is motivated by the past year’s accomplishments, foundational improvements, and positive performance trends – all of which are setting the stage for what we are optimistic will be a banner year for visitation to Happy Valley and for our county’s tourism economy.

Fritz Smith is president and CEO of The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, the official destination marketing organization for Centre County.