Reservations for campsites in state parks were up 30% over the prior year, a surge state officials say was fueled by visits from travelers looking for alternatives to closed federal campgrounds.

Summer reservations were up 10% statewide and up 60% in areas near affected federal sites, according to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Federal campgrounds were closed for much of the summer due to spending cuts enacted by the Trump administration.

State officials credited the Still Open, Still Awesome campaign to promote overnight states in state parks with building awareness of available campaign opportunities in the 124 state parks.

“When the federal government closed campgrounds, Pennsylvania stepped up,” said Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn.

State officials on Tuesday also announced that tourism translated into $84 billion in economic activity in Pennsylvania last year, according to an economic impact study commissioned by the Department Community and Economic Development.

The study estimated that tourism’s impact grew by $7 billion compared to the prior year.

Just over 200 million travelers visited Pennsylvania tourist destinations last year, a 2.5% increase over 2023. The economic impact included $50 billion in direct spending by tourists, $15 billion in indirect spending by tourist-related businesses, and $16.4 billion in what the report described as “induced spending” in other businesses by workers who are employed in the tourism industry.

Who’s visiting?

— Overnight visitors increased by 2% over the previous year and spending increased by $1.1 billion, with more than 71 million visitors resulting in $30.4 billion in spending.

— Overnight visitors spent $428 per person, up $9 from 2023; while spending on day trips grew to $19.5 billion.

— The share of international visitor spending increased to 4.4% in 2024, while spending by business travelers grew to 12.7% of total visitor spending.