Tennessee tourism spending reached record $17.7B in 2014

Gov. Bill Haslam joined Commissioner Kevin Triplett of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Tuesday to announce the economic impact of tourism in Nashville during 2014.

The governor stated that 153,000 people in Tennessee held travel-related jobs in 2014.

“Although 2014-2015 tax revenues were strong, the challenge remains to achieve operational efficiencies throughout state government and to secure the resources necessary to support education, TennCare and our valued state work force”, Martin said in the memo.

The Tennessee Tourism Committee, appointed by Haslam in 2011, is made up of tourism leaders in both the public and private sectors. Nashville generated 31.5 percent of the state’s entire visitor spend, with more than 13 million visitors in 2014, according to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

Tennessee is ranked in the Top 10 destinations in the U.S. for total travel. Extra people flowing into the state has also increased tourism-generated jobs.

Gov. Haslam said he has seen wide agreement on a statewide tour about transportation that Tennessee needs more money for road and transit projects, but the there’s little consensus on what to do about it.

State and local sales tax revenue from the tourism industry were more than $1.5 billion, and global travel increased more than 8 percent to $577 million.

Davidson was one of three counties – in addition to Shelby (Memphis) and Sevier (Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge) – that saw more than $1 billion in economic impact last year from tourism. “But, at the end of the day, people keep coming to Tennessee for our authenticity and exceptional Southern hospitality”. “The 2014 numbers that move us back into 4th are a major achievement and reflect not only the efforts of Visit Knoxville but those of our outstanding tourism partners”.

Tennessee’s customer satisfaction landed at an impressive 8.5 out of 10. TTC is chaired by Colin Reed, Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc., and co-chaired by Jack Soden, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., and Sande Weiss, president of Music Road Resort.