The Culture Outside Your Door: Hometown Tourism and Local Economic Impact
By Christiana
When you walk into the Midtown Scholar of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, you’re immediately enveloped by the smell of new books and freshly brewed coffee. Books from esteemed authors line the shelves of the main floor—Virginia Woolf, Kazuo Ishiguro, James Baldwin, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, among others—and tables with stacks of new titles abound. Wandering into the cookbook section, the scent of a fresh batch of sugar cookies wafts up from Tammy’s Just Baked Cakes & Pies, the in-store bakery.
Just across the street, beef patties sizzle on the grill while people cluster around the bar at Lovedraft’s Express, one of Broad Street Market’s numerous stands. The Broad Street Market has fed Harrisburg visitors and residents alike since the Civil War, and it is now a melting pot of eateries reflecting the diversity of Harrisburg with Korean ramen, Haitian curries, and soft pretzels made daily by Amish bakers. Each week, the Market bustles with clangs and shings of spatulas, neighbors calling out to each other, and strains of music floating in from streetside buskers.
These places are more than just delights for the senses; they are integral parts of Harrisburg’s cultural tourism sector and Harrisburg’s economy at large.
What’s cultural tourism?
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines “cultural tourism” as tourism motivated by a desire to explore “the tangible and intangible attractions/products in a tourism destination” which are often “relate[d] to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society.”
To sum that up, cultural tourism is fueled by the things, events, and places that transmit the destination’s culture, like a historical exhibit, a folk-dance demonstration, or the architecture of a traditional temple. It gives a glimpse into the city’s soul.
Cultural tourism’s multidisciplinary nature is one of its strengths. Anything that displays an area’s culture—whether that’s food, the performing arts, music, and yes, even books—can be a cultural tourism draw. Those cultural assets invite tourists not just to enjoy their offerings, but to explore others nearby, generating income within the local economy.
The economic impact of arts and culture
The commerce from these experiences is quite lucrative. In the nationwide Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) study, Americans for the Arts found that in 2022, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations spent over $73 billion to host events and provide services. That investment prompts an additional $78 billion in event-related spending including parking, lodging, or post-event refreshments.
These nationwide numbers really hit home on the local economic scale. While out-of-town guests to an arts or cultural event will spend about twice as much as local patrons, local patrons usually make up over 65% of an event’s audience, generating a handsome portion of the overall revenue. Thus, local patrons generate much of the $101 billion in residents’ income that comes from those events. Visiting a cultural attraction within your neighborhood can play a small part in creating big economic changes in the community.
How Ghost Writer can help
At Ghost Writer, we’ve seen the multifaceted power of art in our work with arts and cultural organizations and economic development nonprofits. Whether it’s uplifting façades on downtown buildings or providing free concerts to expand access to the arts, Ghost Writer is here to further your mission in helping your community flourish.
Want to learn more? Email us at doingwhatmatters@ghostwriterquill.com to schedule a call today!
