Busy Summer Travel Season Capped by Successful Concert Series at PNC Park
Four Late-Season Concerts Generate $40.9M in Direct Combined Spend of Visitors and Residents
PITTSBURGH – Travel and tourism across Allegheny County enjoyed a strong summer season, boosted by a robust return of Only in Pittsburgh summer events, festivals and concerts. From the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Western Pennsylvania Juneteenth Homecoming Celebration to Pittsburgh Pride Revolution, the Black Music Festival, Picklesburgh, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, Barrel & Flow Fest and much more, travelers returned to Pittsburgh to enjoy unique, memorable celebrations.
The summer travel season was capped by a four-concert series hosted by the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, drawing 160,150 visitors to the North Shore and generating an estimated $40.9 million in direct combined spend of visitors and residents.
A complete breakdown of the concert series:
- Billy Joel (Aug. 11) - $7.88M, 38,799 attendance
- The Stadium Tour: Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe, Poison, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (Aug. 12) - $10.91M, 43,734 attendance
- Metallica (Aug. 14) - $10.6M, 37,888 attendance
- Elton John (Sept. 16) - $11.53M, 39,729 attendance
When looking closely at the concerts’ attendance mix, 60 percent of tickets were sold to attendees from outside Allegheny County, with an estimate 42 percent of overnight attendees flying through Pittsburgh International Airport.
“We are extremely proud of the hard work from so many people that lead to the most successful summer concert series in PNC Park history,” said Travis Williams, Pirates President. “I don’t know of many venues that have hosted three individual shows over a four-day span, followed by a fourth show featuring an epic performance by Elton John, and a lot of baseball games in between. PNC Park continues to prove to be a true community asset and an economic driver for the city.”
Thanks to Pittsburgh’s many summer events, festivals and concerts, Allegheny County ranked second out of 12 peer destinations for hotel occupancy for the month of August 2022, hitting 70.1 percent (STR Report), a 15.4 percent increase from August 2021. Allegheny County ranked first for ADR ($149.14) and RevPAR ($104.57).
“We would like to congratulate the Pittsburgh Pirates and PNC Park on producing a successful summer concert series. The impact of these concerts goes far beyond the North Shore, as attendees stayed at our hotels, ate at our restaurants and explored all that Pittsburgh has to offer,” said VisitPITTSBURGH President & CEO Jerad Bachar. “The Pittsburgh region saw a tremendous demand for travel throughout the summer months thanks in part to our diverse lineup of events, festivals and concerts, all of which will continue to play a large role as our community builds back the tourism economy in Allegheny County.”
The estimates for the PNC Park summer concert series were calculated using information provided by the Pittsburgh Pirates and the standard event evaluation process created by Destinations International (DI). The model and platform were developed and continue to be maintained and refined by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company.