Delaware Tourism Offices announces that 2023 was a record-breaking year.
The First State received 29.3 million visitors in 2023.
"That includes day visitors, overnight visitors, business and leisure visitors as well. So that was a 2.4% increase above our 2022 levels, and it's a record-breaking number for us," said Jessica Welch, the director of the Delaware Tourism Office.
The most popular activities for visitors to Delaware were outdoor activities followed by entertainment and cultural activities.
When surveyed 71% of overnight travelers were “very satisfied” with their overall experience, citing the state’s cleanliness, friendliness of people, safety and quality of accommodations.
"We saw more than $7 billion in visitor spending in Delaware, which is a 7% increase from our 2022 numbers, so the visitors spent on average, about $238 in 2023, and these are important numbers because that is money that is going directly into our state coffers,” said Welch. “So for every $1 that's spent by Delaware visitors, our state's economy retains about 66 cents of that."
In 2023, tourism contributed $4.7 billion to the state Gross Domestic Product - or more than 5% of the state GDP.
There was also $724 million in state and local tax revenue generated in 2023 by the tourism industry, without that, the report estimated each Delaware household would pay an additional $1,826 in state and local taxes
Tourism is also the fourth largest private employer in the state supporting 55,240 jobs in 2023, and accounting for 14% of all new jobs created in Delaware in 2023.
