Pennsylvania’s tourism lead says 2026 events have been an astounding success

Anne Ryan, the state’s deputy secretary of the Office of Tourism, has been all over the commonwealth this summer as the Keystone State has hosted numerous marquee events during its semiquincentennial celebrations. Ryan spoke with City & State about Philadelphia’s standout performance as a World Cup host city and her mid-year review for how Pennsylvania has fared as a summer destination for those coming from far and wide. 

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Philly’s Fan Fest has been widely considered an astounding success and one of the best city-run events among the host cities. What does that say about Philadelphia Soccer 2026 and the work that their team put in?

First and foremost, what we know about Philadelphia is that Philly knows how to host events. We can pull together a Super Bowl parade in a week that has a million attendees, so you’re dealing with a city that knows how to do very large-scale events well. Then, when you zoom in on Philadelphia Soccer 2026 and how it has handled the FIFA Fan Festival … that organization has some of the most connected, sharpest and most experienced leaders in the city. You’re blending expertise, real tenacity and event know-how. It just speaks to the caliber of the organization. 

To be a little bit more brass tacks, other host cities didn’t accomplish what Philadelphia Soccer did in raising both public and private funding. Philadelphia Soccer’s ability to run a 39-day Fan Festival –  yes, there’s a lot of public funding, but there’s also a lot of private funding. You really have to look at the organizations, their expertise, and their commitment to being the absolute best in a city experience, but to actually execute on that, you have to have funding and resources. They were able to achieve both of those things. 

You mentioned that other host cities haven’t been able to keep their Fan Fest open every day throughout the World Cup. Does that add to the uniqueness of the Philadelphia experience? 

It is a really unique experience. Gov. Shapiro is very committed to the World Cup in Philadelphia and throughout the entire state, and some of the funding that the governor unlocked for the 2026 events went directly to Philadelphia Soccer, and that funding is being used to help supplement Fan Festival, and to help supplement the three Fan Zones throughout the state. We aren’t here to take credit, but we’re certainly contributing to the success of Fan Fest and to the Fan Zone. I look at Boston and I look at some of the other cities – they just weren’t in a position to fund the Fan Fest to the extent that the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were able to.

If you get a chance to go to Philadelphia’s Fan Fest, definitely stop by the Pennsylvania Pavilion … We’re promoting the elk in the PA Wilds, the Cherry Springs State Park with the international dark skies, Pittsburgh, Lake Erie and the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. That’s something we’re really proud of in this tourism office. We have these massive events in Philly this summer, but our goal is to show these million-plus visitors about the rest of the state and arm them with information. 

Pennsylvania hosted the NFL Draft, the PGA Championship, and the World Cup, and will soon welcome the MLB All-Star Game – how are we doing?

When I took this role two years ago, we were talking about how important 2026 was going to be and how this was our moment to really build the Visit PA brand. When I look at what we’ve done over the last six months – the big sporting events, the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the Groundhog Day events in Punxsutawney, the Philadelphia Flower Show and, of course, the NFL Draft – I cannot find a single opportunity that we missed. I feel so proud of how we’ve leveraged every single event with activations. 

The fact that Fan Fest has already had more than 400,000 attendees, and we haven’t had our biggest matches yet, is incredible. That has exceeded expectations. Philadelphia Stadium has welcomed over 200,000 attendees … We made the most of it in our domestic advertising. We were advertising east of the Mississippi River – up and down the East Coast – and internationally in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. And if you look at year-over-year June and July flights, our flights from France to Philadelphia International Airport are up 59%. Our flights from the UK are up 25%, and we’re not even hosting England. Our flights from the Netherlands to Philadelphia are up 48%, and we hosted Curaçao. If you just look at the year-over-year increases in flights from countries where we’re hosting their teams, they're directly correlated with our efforts there. 

I think we are redefining how a state tourism office comes in and lifts up all of the marketing and communication efforts of all of the organizations. You have Visit Philly doing an incredible job, you have Philadelphia Soccer 2026 doing an incredible job, the City of Philadelphia and the PHL Central Business District – they’re all marketing this.

What have you heard about the diversity of fans at the Fan Fest and where they’re coming from, regardless of who’s playing that day?

This goes back to Philadelphia Soccer. Their No. 1 goal for Fan Fest was to make it accessible in terms of affordability and transit. We’re the only host city in the U.S. with a free 39-day Fan Fest. Other cities have been struggling to continue operating, and we have pushed the message of a 39-day Fan Fest since we determined it. For the last few months, we’ve been aggressively advertising. The Philadelphia Soccer team and their leader, Meg Kane, said that 70% of people who travel for the World Cup don’t have a match ticket; they just want to watch a match among fellow fans and in a big community. They want it to be a communal experience. 

The diaspora of people coming to Philadelphia from up and down the East Coast to watch Haiti, Ecuador, Ghana or Côte d’Ivoire – they’re coming to Philadelphia because it’s free, it’s accessible and because we’ve promoted it. We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure the nation knows: if you want to watch a match with a bunch of people and have a good time with the most passionate fans on Earth, come to Philadelphia. 

What preliminary tourism revenue and spending numbers are you seeing from the first half of the year?

Our projected economic impact numbers for 2026 overall were $91 billion and 209 million visitors. We don’t have mid-year numbers yet, but I do know the Philadelphia World Cup projections were around 500,000 and we’ve already surpassed that. I can tell you we’re going to beat the World Cup projection … Pittsburgh with the NFL Draft, they blew attendance projections out of the water. I expect the same trend for the World Cup and then, of course, the MLB All-Stars. 

I’m also proud of our Visit PA Playmakers. Pennsylvania is a massive state. People are coming to Philadelphia and they can get context on Philadelphia, but how do we introduce them to the rest of the state in a way that’s not just pictures? That’s what Playmakers are. We’ve had the Pittsburgh Dad and the Nittany Lion at events, we’ve had Amish people on our television commercials – we got real Amish people to agree to do it. We have our sports mascots and all of our icons across Pennsylvania. It’s not a gimmick – these are real people. 

We have an opportunity to make a lasting first impression on the millions of people attending these events across the state. It was a risk – would these huge organizations like FIFA, the MLB and the NFL allow all of this? They have, and there will be more to come in terms of wrap-up and how everything went later this summer. 

Is there civic pride that comes with this job and with hosting events?

It is a big deal to host the World Cup; we’re not just hosting it and doing an OK job – Philadelphia is topping the list and getting all kinds of national attention. Pennsylvanians should be proud of that. 

And we’re bringing the World Cup energy to the rest of the state. This isn’t just about Philadelphia in 2026 or Pittsburgh and the NFL Draft. These FIFA Fan Zones are now throughout the state, and so many counties across the state have activated for America250. We brought five free concerts to Erie, Wilkes-Barre, State College, Hershey and Pittsburgh, but I want residents to know: 2026 is for all 67 counties. We’re doing our best to bring the World Cup to everyone and to bring concerts and everyone together. We hope Pennsylvanians feel proud that these international and national major sporting events chose Pennsylvania to host. It’s a big deal. 

For Pennsylvania to be hosting these events over the course of three to four months, it’s not normal – no state has ever hosted this caliber of events in such a short time period. I hope Pennsylvanians feel really proud that the place we get to live in and call home is on millions of people’s bucket lists to visit this summer.