In 2023, Lancaster County experienced a 4.3% year-over-year increase in tourism spending, welcoming approximately 9.92 million visitors who spent an estimated $2.58 billion. This spending supported 25,679 jobs in the county, including 16,922 direct industry positions. The total economic impact of tourism reached $3.4 billion.
Additionally, according to Discover Lancaster’s Visitor Economy Report, authored by Tourism Economics and published in May 2024, the tourism industry generated substantial state and local tax revenue, effectively saving each Lancaster County household an estimated $1,169 in taxes.
While total visitation and visitor spending data inside the city limits has not historically been tracked, researchers estimate that approximately 11% of the total, or approximately $285 million, is currently being spent by visitors in Lancaster City stores, restaurants, hotels, and entertainment venues each year. These spending patterns underpin the importance of tourism to the local economy – creating local jobs, contributing to the local tax base, and as a result, helping to pay for important community services while stimulating additional business investment and economic opportunity.
Beyond the money, local tourism plays a crucial role in enhancing cultural exchange and understanding, supporting the preservation of historic resources, catalyzing investments in public spaces and infrastructure, and fostering civic pride and community identity.
Through careful planning and implementation, a tourism master plan seeks to balance the many economic and cultural opportunities related to local tourism growth with community goals and priorities including preservation of community character, quality of life for residents, and economic sustainability for the local small and independent business sector.
The goal of the Tourism Master Plan (TMP) is to guide the development of Lancaster City’s tourism industry while serving as a blueprint for future tourism-related products, services, programming, and opportunities. The TMP was designed to integrate city programming and events aimed at increasing tourism with the opportunity to highlight and embrace the authenticity and uniqueness of the city which is rich in history and diversity. The TMP also focuses planning efforts, investment, and activities on promoting the city as a destination.
Lancaster City has a long history of comprehensive planning, but this is its first-ever tourism master plan. This plan recognizes the changing nature of tourism and incorporates thoughtful predictions about future trends into its recommendations. This TMP is designed to ensure the city adopts a modern approach to destination management and encompasses broader citywide initiatives and considerations, such as economics, workforce, and business recruitment, into the planning process to increase visitor spending and cultural appreciation, strengthen the local economy, and provide equitable benefit for the entire community.
For many communities, strategic tourism planning is fundamental to ensuring sustainable economic growth, preserving community character, and maximizing the benefits of visitor spending while minimizing negative impact on local quality of life.
A well-crafted tourism master plan serves as both a roadmap and a framework for decision-making, helping to align resources, coordinate stakeholders, and achieve community-optimized outcomes.
The Comprehensive Plan, adopted by City Council in the Fall of 2023, specifically addressed the interconnected nature of land use and development, housing needs, the movement of people and goods, community facilities and utilities, compatibility of existing and proposed development (locally and with neighboring municipalities), natural and historic resource protection, and the reliability of future water supply. The ‘Our Future Lancaster’ Comprehensive Plan focuses City efforts on four strategic priorities: 1) strong neighborhoods, 2) safe places, 3) a sustainable economy, and 4) sound government. Together, these priorities paint a unified vision for a stronger, more equitable city.
While until now, the City of Lancaster had not pursued a similar comprehensive planning effort to ensure tourism, which is a major driver of the local economy, was fully integrated into this larger vision, nor fully considered how tourism can help support, advance, and help fund the city’s larger goals and objectives, the 2023 ‘Our Future Lancaster’ Comprehensive Plan also didn’t ignore tourism. It specifically identified nine policy objectives driven directly by tourism that would drive future planning and prioritization. Accordingly, this plan has prioritized the same.
Per the 2023 Comprehensive plan, the City of Lancaster will:
- Recognize and support tourism and hospitality as a significant contributor to Lancaster City’s economy. Ensuring that tourism initiatives are authentic and culturally inclusive (Policy EEO-3.6:)
- Complete a tourism master plan and expand partnerships with Discover Lancaster to expand local, regional and mid-Atlantic tourism (Action EEO-3.6A)
- Refine and promote the city’s brand so it remains fresh, identifiable and compelling both locally and in the mid-Atlantic region (Policy EEO-3.1)
- Continue to position Downtown Lancaster as the economic engine of Lancaster City and the metro region (Policy PB-2:)
- Bolster historic and cultural tourism as an economic development tool (Policy SNH-2.2)
- Design and maintain high-quality public spaces for social interaction (Policy CPP-3.2)
- Recognize arts’ potential to enrich residents, contribute to economic vitality, and enhance civic identity (Policy BCC-5.1)
- Activate public spaces through events, performances and programming (Policy BCC-5.2)
- Integrate public art into the built environment and infrastructure projects (Policy BCC-5.5)
The Lancaster City Tourism Master Plan uses these guidelines and recommendations to create a roadmap for advancing the future tourism economy in partnership with more than 3,500 community stakeholders who helped inform, shape, and prioritize this strategy.
Tourism is cross functional and cross disciplinary. Through the development of this Tourism Master Plan, the deep interconnected nature of tourism and quality of life in Lancaster City was prioritized. The final tourism action plan recommendations clearly and independently map to 37 unique city policies and all five planning systems outlined in the ‘Our Future Lancaster’ Comprehensive Plan. Its success contributes to many different, and often unexpected aspects of a community’s dynamic.
This is intentional. The Tourism Master Plan has been developed in close alignment with the ‘Building on Strength’ Economic Development Strategic Plan, which serves as Lancaster City’s comprehensive framework for economic growth through 2030. As noted in the ‘Building on Strength’ 2024 update, tourism represents a cornerstone of Lancaster City’s economy, with visitors contributing approximately $2.58 billion to the local economy in 2023. Both plans recognize the vital role of tourism as an economic driver and emphasize similar priorities: enhancing Lancaster City’s authentic character, supporting independent businesses, promoting cultural diversity, and ensuring equitable development across commercial hubs.
While ‘Building on Strength’ focuses on broader economic investment strategies, this Tourism Master Plan provides specialized, complementary guidance for maximizing Lancaster City’s tourism potential while preserving the unique qualities that make this city distinctive. Together, these plans create a unified vision for a Lancaster City that thrives economically while maintaining its welcoming tradition, cultural richness, and historic charm.
In addition to aligning with the City of Lancaster’s ‘Building on Strength’ plan, this Tourism Master Plan strategically connects with Pennsylvania’s 10-year economic development strategy (2024-2033). With the Commonwealth recently increasing its tourism promotional funding from $4M to $19M annually, Lancaster City is positioned to leverage this renewed state commitment.
This plan also directly supports Pennsylvania’s five key goals: investing in economic growth to compete, making government work at the speed of business, opening doors of opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, innovating to win, and building vibrant and resilient regions. The state’s recognition of tourism as a major economic engine aligns perfectly with the local vision for creating multilevel synergy between city, county, and state tourism initiatives.
As Pennsylvania implements its expanded tourism program, Lancaster City will be poised to benefit from and contribute to these state efforts through strategic partnerships, grant opportunities, and coordinated marketing initiatives. This alignment will multiply the impact of local investments and ensure Lancaster City’s distinctive tourism assets are showcased within the broader context of Pennsylvania’s destination offerings.
The timing of this tourism master planning effort will be particularly valuable, as the City of Lancaster, Discover Lancaster, Visit Hershey and Harrisburg, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania all stand ready to start strategic new chapters. Each of these organizations is actively making thoughtful new plans to invest in tourism as a local economic driver. They are each welcoming new leaders and planning to strategically leverage the opportunity tourism creates for meaningful cultural education and idea exchange. And, they all are ready to use tourism to build resident pride and prosperity.
Now, working together in greater alignment, the City of Lancaster, inclusive of its many different departments, neighborhoods, businesses, organizations, and individual contributors, also has a clear strategy for how it will leverage tourism to elevate the unique profile of Lancaster City.
With strong and growing infrastructure, strategic statewide attention, and increasing research to support strategic alignment between tourism and economic development, Lancaster City has picked an opportune time to explore ways to enhance the city’s image, support its local businesses, and authentically invite visitors to experience all they have to offer.
