VisitPITTSBURGH Q3 2022 Performance Overview

Allegheny County's business and sports event sector continues to build upon momentum gained throughout the last year. The VisitPITTSBURGH Business Events Sales and SportsPITTSBURGH Event Sales teams booked more than 73,000 room nights for future dates in the third quarter, a 103% increase from the same time last year and 94% of historic booking levels for Q3. These future events are anticipated to generate an estimated $74M in visitor spending within the county.

To capitalize on the summer travel momentum, the VisitPITTSBURGH marketing team ran a number of leisure visitor campaigns and promotions in Q3 which generated an estimated 27.3M media exposures. Campaigns with the top exposures include the mid-week campaign, KidsBURGH, blog promotions and VisitPITTSBURGH’s United Kingdom campaign. Trackable leisure traveler bookings from VisitPITTSBURGH campaigns generated nearly $3.5M in hotel revenue, a 68% increase over the same period last year. Year-to-date, the campaigns have resulted in more than 43,000 room nights booked, a 46% increase over the same period last year, generating $8.4M in hotel revenue, a 61% increase of the same period last year. Other metrics on the upswing include social media followers, which were up 68%, and website sessions, which were up 39% year-over-year, totaling nearly 950,000 sessions.

Highlights of the Marketing team’s initiatives from Q3 2022 include:

Domestic Leisure Marketing:

• VisitPITTSBURGH Q3 OTA campaigns resulted in more than $2.5M in hotel revenue generated through 10,142 room nights with a $259 ADR – a 10% increase in revenue generated over the same period in 2021. Year-to-date, the OTA revenue results are up 44%, and room night bookings are up 23% over the same period in 2021.
• Additional advertising campaigns for Q3 resulted in more than $903,000 in hotel revenue generated through 2,780 room nights – a 220% increase in revenue over the same period in 2021. The increase is largely due to VisitPITTSBURGH’s successful mid-week campaign, which specifically targets individuals most likely to book mid-week travel. These results also are mirrored in recent STR reports for mid-week bookings. Year-to-date hotel revenue generated from VisitPITTSBURGH advertising campaigns are up 135%, and room nights up 180% over the same period in 2021.
• Web traffic for Q3 is showing a 39% increase in users, 39% increase in sessions and 34% increase in page views over the same period in 2021. Year-to-date web traffic is showing a 54% increase in users, 56% increase in sessions and 53% increase in pages views over 2021.
• Year-over-year, VisitPITTSBURGH’s social followers increased 17% with 211,000 followers across all channels, generating more than 13.5M impressions and more than 471,000 engagements.
• The communications team hosted two domestic travel writers, both with pending stories for 2023, as well as two international travel writers for a combined four individual press trips in Q3.
• Included in the Pittsburgh storytelling for Q3 was the promotion of the successful summer concert series at PNC Park, which resulted in 15 stories with a combined reach of 9.42M.

International Leisure Marketing:

• UK/IRE

1. Hosted two UK group press trips, which to date have resulted in 29 pieces of coverage totaling 1.9M in circulation and more than $230,000 in advertising equivalency. Also hosted individual press trips for UK, Irish and German journalists. To date, these trips have generated 79 pieces of PR coverage for a combined circulation of more than 87M, totaling $1.2M in advertising equivalency.
2. Hosted two UK group FAM trips with key European tour operators, including representatives from two of the largest providers in terms of seats on British Airways.
3. Five trade marketing campaigns have launched to date - four with key trade partners and one with key airline partner, British Airways.

• Germany

1. Launched consumer campaigns with a key German operator, FVW Academy, which will run through Q3.
2. Welcomed Sabine Loeprick, a freelance travel writer and correspondent for RBB, the public broadcasting company for the German states of Brandenburg and Berlin.

• Canada

1. Completed a multi-channel marketing campaign in conjunction with BrandUSA targeting Canadian travelers, which resulted in:
2. A total of 1.48M impressions through the BrandUSA Interactive Travel Guide, Google Display and Expedia.
3. The Expedia campaign resulted in 2,456 hotel rooms booked generating $615,205 in hotel revenue, a 230:1 ROI based on total revenue, which includes $154,449 in revenue generated from 268 flight bookings.

Allegheny County Visitor Economy Q3 Highlights

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6% in the third quarter, the first increase in 2022. The increase was primarily due to increases in exports, business investment, government spending and consumer spending. Consumers continue to transition their spending from goods to services, a positive sign for the travel industry. The overall health of the U.S. economy led to a strong third quarter for the local leisure and hospitality industry.

Lodging KPIs continued on an upward trend with occupancy and RevPAR up 15% and 36%, respectively. Hotel occupancy averaged 68.2% in Q3 with an ADR of $150. Lodging revenues, for hotel room nights and shared accommodations, totaled $189M in Allegheny County (Q3 2022), a 38% increase compared to the same time last year (combined STR and AirDNA).

Air passenger volume at Pittsburgh International Airport was up nearly 13% compared to the same time last year. And despite national pilot shortages, delays, cancellations and increased ticket prices, more than 1.1M individuals were screened through TSA checkpoints at PIT between July and September. 

Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector grew 12% compared to the third quarter last year. Employment in the sector is nearing 2019 levels and anticipated to fully recover next year. As of September 2022, leisure and hospitality employment in Allegheny County was just 3% behind 2019 levels.

When looking ahead at future committed room nights, overall bookings appear to be down over the next 2- 6 months compared to booking levels the same time last year. This, combined with American traveler sentiment - which shows Americans are still prioritizing travel (with 9-in-10 intending to take a trip in the next six months) while also tightening their budgets due to economic concerns and possible recession early next year - suggests trips over the next 2-6 months may have shorter booking windows; visitors also may choose to stay with family and friends rather than in paid accommodations.