Cumberland County Visitor Spending Surpasses $1 Billion, Posts Fastest Growth in Dutch Country Roads Region

Cumberland Valley, Pa. (October 1, 2026) –

Visitors to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, spent $1.05 billion in 2025, the county’s highest total to date, according to new data from Tourism Economics. Spending rose 5.5% over 2024, the fastest growth of any of the Dutch Country Roads region’s nine counties and nearly double the regional rate of 2.8%.

That growth added $54.4 million in visitor spending compared with 2024, when the county recorded $996.8 million. Since 2021, visitor spending in Cumberland County has climbed 35.6%, outpacing the region’s 30.8% gain over the same period.

“Crossing the billion-dollar mark is a milestone for the entire visitor economy in Cumberland County,” said Janet Anderson, Executive Director of the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation (CAEDC), which operates the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. “It reflects years of investment in local hotels, attractions, and events, and it creates real jobs and eases the tax burden for residents.”

Visitor spending directly supported 6,663 jobs in Cumberland County in 2025, an increase of 133 jobs, or 2.0%, over the prior year. That rate is more than double the regional job growth of 0.9%, and Cumberland accounted for more than one in five of the 597 tourism jobs added across Dutch Country Roads.

When indirect and induced effects are included, such as suppliers serving tourism businesses and employees spending their wages locally, the visitor economy generated $1.74 billion in total business sales in the county. It also supported 10,187 total jobs and $487.2 million in personal income. Tourism generated $93.4 million in state and local tax revenue and $106.1 million in federal taxes, for nearly $200 million in total tax revenue.

Transportation led visitor spending at $266.8 million, followed closely by food and beverage at $260.6 million. Visitors also spent $230.6 million on recreation and entertainment, $171.0 million on retail, and $122.2 million on lodging. Food and beverage made up a larger share of spending in Cumberland County (24.8%) than across the region as a whole (22.7%).

“These numbers reflect something the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau has worked hard to build: a reason for visitors to stay, not just pass through. In 2025, 52% of trips to Cumberland Valley included an overnight stay, with visitors spending an average of 2.1 days in the county and $141.87 per trip on local credit and debit card purchases*”, said Laura Delaney, Director of Tourism & Marketing at the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. “That’s the kind of visitor behavior we actively target in our marketing. Longer stays mean more meals, more shopping, more nights of lodging, and ultimately more dollars staying in Cumberland County.”

Cumberland County ranks fourth among the nine Dutch Country Roads counties in visitor spending, behind Dauphin, Lancaster, and York, and represents about 10% of the region’s $10.4 billion total. Cumberland County climbed to 13th among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in total visitor spending in 2025, up from 14th the year before.

Cumberland County’s 5.5% growth also outpaced Pennsylvania as a whole, where visitor spending rose 3.5% to $51.6 billion in 2025. The county accounts for about 2% of statewide visitor spending.

*Source: Datafy, a visitor data platform used by CAEDC. Figures are separate from the Tourism Economics data cited elsewhere in this release.

About CAEDC

CAEDC is Cumberland County’s lead certified economic development organization charged with leveraging and promoting Cumberland Valley’s economic development and tourism assets to drive growth, create jobs and improve the quality of life. Offices are located at 230 S. Sporting Hill Road, Suite 100, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050. For more information, visit www.cumberlandbusiness.com and www.visitcumberlandvalley.com.