Annual Report 2022-23

The Annual Report from fiscal year 2022-23 is available. Download the full document or scroll through a brief synopsis below. 


Recap Video


Research & Data

Discover Lehigh Valley® contracts with Smith Travel Research, also referred to as STR, the recognized leader in hospitality benchmarking around the globe. DLV analyzes a monthly report and utilizes traveler sentiment derived from Longwoods International and insights from migration data on behalf of Tourism Economics to aggregate destination insights.

Research Charts & Graphs from the STR Report

STR At A Glance

Discover Lehigh Valley® contracts with Smith Travel Research (STR), the recognized leader in hospitality benchmarking around the globe. DLV analyzes a monthly report and utilizes traveler sentiment derived from Longwoods International and insights from migration data on behalf of Tourism Economics to aggregate destination insights.

  • Average Daily Rate (ADR) is the measure of average rate paid for rooms sold. The top performing month for Average Daily Rate was July 2022 at $131.
  • Hotel Occupancy is the percentage of available rooms sold, and occupancy in Lehigh Valley peaked in August 2022 at 78%.
  • Revenue Per Available Room is the revenue generated per hotel room regardless of if rooms are occupied or not. RevPAR peaked in August 2022 at $99.

Supply is the amount of nightly rooms available at the destination. Total room supply peaked in the region in June, 2023 at 6,865 nightly rooms available.

Research Charts & Graphs from Longwoods International

Longwoods International

According to Longwoods International, Travel USA Visitor Profile, Lehigh Valley welcomed 16.6 million overnight visitors; up 3.5% from 2021. 

Lehigh Valley Travel Market
(Day & Overnight Trips)
  • 16.6 Million Total Trips (+3.5% vs. 2021)
  • $681M Overnight Visitor Spending
  • $1.3 Billion in Total Visitor Spending (Day and Overnight) (+20.1% vs. 2021)
Season of Trip for Overnight Trips
  • January–March: 23%
  • April–June: 25%
  • July–September: 25%
  • October–December: 27%

Social Media

Through organic content to build up engagement and awareness, running targeted social media advertisements and joining new channels, the marketing team has driven traffic and engagement on the website over the last year. For the 2022-23 FY, DLV saw a +8% growth YoY in total social follower count and a +86% growth YoY in new users to the website.

Channel Growth
  • Total Social Fans 275,350 fans (+8% growth YoY)
  • Facebook 159,755 followers
  • Instagram 48,294 followers
  • X (formerly known as Twitter): 50,200 followers
  • TikTok: 9,143 followers
  • LinkedIn: 6,658 followers
  • YouTube: 1,300 subscribers

Paid Social Efforts

DLV saw success in boosting several posts and running several dark ads on a holiday campaign, touting things to do, lights displays, and of course the Christmas City. We also ran an ad for e-newsletter sign-ups for 11 months out of the year.

Top Facebook and Instagram Paid and Organic Posts


Marketing, Advertising, & Public Relations

This past year was time to drive visitation back to Lehigh Valley in a significant way and in the most competitive travel market we’ve ever seen. Our campaigns focused on our standout festival offerings.

Advertising examples: Digital Ads, Billboards, Print

VisitPA Cooperative Advertising

Backed by matched dollars from VisitPA, the spend allowed for many tactics, otherwise not available based on budget limitations for these top markets. Tactics included cable television and video streaming networks like Roku and Apple-TV, programmatic video & pre-roll on YouTube, high trafficked digital bulletins, and programmatic digital ads.

  • Target Markets: New York, Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia, HLLY, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
Results
  • 53,437,606 Total Digital Impressions
  • 902,428 Total Clicks
  • 1.69% Click Through Rate (CTR)
  • 8,180,921 Total Video Completions

Public Relations

Targeting editorial calendars with specific pitches, Lehigh Valley landed in national and regional headlines totaling 430 placements, an advertising value of $273,090.97​, while reaching 33,390,421 readers.

Results:
  • 255,000 Total Fans on Social Media
  • 1 million Users annually
  • 1.4 million sessions
  • 2.5 million pageviews
  • 669,891 Website visitors arrived via organic search because they were looking for things to do in the region. 61% of traffic is organic.

Website

The team’s marketing tactics to engage visitors across social channels, very targeted paid media efforts, and sponsorships contributed to an increase in website traffi c to DiscoverLehighValley.com. Nearly 2 million users engaged with Discover Lehigh Valley® from July 1, 2022 through the fi scal year, ending June 30, 2023. Those users searched content resulting in 5.7 million pageviews.

Results

  • 1,962,510 users
  • 2,732,312 sessions
  • 5,683,485 pageviews
  • 1,142,470 organic search users 
  • 58% of total traffic is organic

DiscoverLehighValley.com Redesign

Awards won by DiscoverLehighValley.comAn Award Winning Website

  • Gold dotCOMM awards An international competition honoring excellence in web creativity and digital communication.
  • Silver Davey Awards Honors the achievements of the “Creative Davids” who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than stratospheric budgets.
  • Award of Distinction Communicator Awards Travel & Tourism website category for the 29th Annual Communicator Awards
  • Honorable Mention Hermes Creative Awards Website Design category

Sales, Services, & Sports

The Sales and Services team at DLV has cultivated collaborations with our valued partners, fostering engagements with both regional and national meeting and conference planners, as well as sports event organizers, across a variety of attended and hosted industry events.

Conferences & Meetings Held
  • 40 Meeting and convention opportunities generated for the region
  • 4,500+ Booked hotel room nights for the future (over double compared to FY 21/22)
Sporting Events Held
  • 25 Sports event opportunities generated for the region 16,000+ Booked hotel room nights for the future
  • 16,000+ Booked hotel room nights for the future
Future events at Wind Creek® Bethlehem:
  • Pennsylvania Municipal League, 2023 Municipal Leadership Summit
  • Fraternal Order of Police, 2024 PA State Convention
  • Color & Culture, 2024 Latino Health Summit
  • Pennsylvania Society of Association Executives, 2024 PASAE Connections Conference
  • Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association, 2024 & 2025 Conference & Expo
Discover Lehigh Valley® was delighted to join the delegation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the City of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Thinking Globally

Discover Lehigh Valley® was delighted to join the delegation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the City of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The city celebrated 30 years of the Sister City relationship formalized in 1991.The delegation from Bethlehem included the City of Bethlehem, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Moravian University, Bethlehem Schwäbisch Gmünd Association, Arts Quest, and Artist, Ann Schlegel. July, 2022


Get in Touch!

Get more detailed research, connect with the DLV team, and more. Contact Alex Michaels.