A Philadelphia Business Journal forum on efforts to fuel the regional tourism trade yielded a mixed bag of pandemic-recovery evidence. Emma Dooling reported the findings, including comment from Mike Bowman, CEO of the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB).

There’s good news, both nationally and locally.

Jay Shah — CEO of a national real estate investment trust in the hospitality sector — said that the Philadelphia area can look forward to some significant revenue drivers for 2026:

• The Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• FIFA World Cup matches
• The celebration of America’s 250th birthday

Shah indicated, however, that Philadelphia’s hotel performance — measured by a room-rate-versus-occupancy metric — isn’t where it should be.

“I’m not sounding sort of an alarm bell,” he said. “But to be lagging behind the nationwide average by what we are in the city is … a little embarrassing.”

Bowman indicated the VFTCB’s solution has been a twin initiative to attract high-end corporate meetings and youth sporting events.

One of the panel’s takeaways, however, was a clear directive that the travel industry has been reinvented, and those who can’t evolve with it will struggle.

Bowman summed up that reality by saying, “If we don’t change … we’re going to continue to be where we’re at.”

More on the Philadelphia-area travel industry — from experts that include the VFTCB’s Mike Bowman — is at the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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VFTCB CEO Mike Bowman discusses a local construction company.