Discover Lehigh Valley®

Discover Lehigh Valley® is the official destination marketing organization for Lehigh and Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. Operating from offices at 1250 Simon Blvd, Suite K102 in Easton, the organization functions as both a tourist information center for visitors and a promotional agency working on behalf of the region's hotels, attractions, restaurants, event venues and cultural institutions. Its work covers the three largest cities in the region, Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, along with the boroughs, townships, farmland and state parks that surround them.

Like other convention and visitors bureaus across the United States, Discover Lehigh Valley exists to bring travelers, meeting planners, tour operators and event organizers into its territory, then help them make the most of the time they spend there. That mission plays out through a mix of research, advertising, public relations, digital content, group sales and direct visitor assistance. The organization is known regionally for being unusually active in the digital space, publishing a steady stream of itineraries, seasonal guides, blog features and event listings that residents and out of town guests alike use to plan their weekends.

Services for Visitors

The most visible service is information. Discover Lehigh Valley maintains a regional events calendar, destination guides and trip planning resources that cover lodging, dining, shopping, outdoor recreation, arts and family activities. Travelers can request or download a Lehigh Valley visitor guide, browse curated itineraries built around themes such as history, food and drink, or outdoor adventure, and search listings by community or category. Staff can also field questions by phone about what is open, what is happening on a given weekend and how to get from one part of the valley to another.

Lodging assistance is a significant part of the work. Because the organization partners with hotels, inns and bed and breakfasts across both counties, it is positioned to point travelers toward properties that match their budget, location preference and reason for visiting, whether that is a concert at a downtown arena, a youth sports tournament, a corporate meeting or a family vacation centered on the region's theme parks and museums. Restaurant and attraction referrals work the same way, drawing on an inventory of member businesses throughout the valley.

Typical resources and services include:

• Printed and digital visitor guides covering attractions, lodging and dining
• A regularly updated calendar of festivals, concerts, markets and seasonal events
• Suggested itineraries and neighborhood guides for Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and smaller communities
• Lodging information and referrals to member hotels and inns
• Maps, brochures and trail and tour information for self guided exploration
• Coupon and package offers tied to participating businesses
• Educational and training programs that teach hospitality workers and locals about regional attractions

Work with Groups, Meetings and Media

Beyond individual travelers, Discover Lehigh Valley works with meeting and event planners, reunion organizers, motorcoach tour companies, sports event rights holders and wedding planners. Services on that side of the operation generally include site visits, venue and hotel leads, help distributing requests for proposals to member properties, assistance assembling welcome materials for delegates and support with logistics such as transportation and off site activities. The organization also serves as a point of contact for journalists and content creators researching stories about the region, arranging itineraries and connecting writers with local sources.

Another part of the job is research and reporting. Destination marketing organizations track hotel occupancy, visitor spending and the economic impact of tourism, and that data is used both to guide marketing decisions and to demonstrate the value of the visitor economy to public officials and partner businesses. The Lehigh Valley is one of Pennsylvania's larger metropolitan areas, and tourism is a meaningful employer within it, supporting hotels, restaurants, retail and entertainment venues.

The Region It Represents

The territory Discover Lehigh Valley promotes is dense with things to do relative to its size. Bethlehem is known for its Moravian history, its preserved colonial and industrial districts, the former Bethlehem Steel site now used for concerts and festivals, and large scale events that draw hundreds of thousands of attendees each summer and again during the Christmas season. Allentown offers a downtown arena that hosts hockey, concerts and touring shows, a science center, museums and a growing restaurant scene. Easton, where the organization is headquartered, sits at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers and is home to a long running farmers market, a children's attraction built around a well known crayon brand and a walkable downtown of shops and eateries.

Outside the cities, the region includes a major amusement and water park, minor league baseball, covered bridges, wineries, breweries and distilleries, guitar manufacturing in Nazareth, canal towpaths along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and access to the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Mountain ridge. The area is roughly an hour and a half from both Philadelphia and New York City, which makes it a common weekend destination for residents of both metropolitan areas.

Location, Access and Practical Details

The Easton office is located in the Simon Silk Mill district, a redeveloped nineteenth century industrial complex on the city's north side that now houses offices, studios, restaurants and event space. The building is served by an accessible entrance, accessible restrooms and accessible parking, and visitors have noted that parking is available at the rear of the property without charge. The surrounding area is quiet and easy to navigate by car compared with a congested downtown core.

Visitors can reach the organization by phone at +1 610-810-1676 or through its website at discoverlehighvalley.com, where most planning tools, event listings and guide requests are handled online. Because the office primarily functions as a business and marketing headquarters rather than a highway rest stop style welcome center, travelers planning to stop in person are encouraged to call ahead to confirm current public hours and staff availability. Brochures and regional information are also distributed at partner hotels, attractions and information kiosks throughout the two county area.

Who It Serves

The audience ranges widely: families planning a multi day trip around amusement parks and museums, couples following wine and brewery trails, history travelers tracing colonial and industrial heritage sites, sports parents traveling for tournaments, corporate planners booking conferences, and local residents simply looking for something to do on a Saturday. In all of those cases, Discover Lehigh Valley's role is the same, which is to gather scattered information about a large and varied region into one reliable, current source and put it in front of the people who need it.