NASHVILLE – Nashville’s tourism industry generated record economic activity for the city in 2022 with unprecedented hotel performance: the most room nights ever sold in a single year at 9.5 million room nights, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today.
“We are proud of the record-breaking performance and the city’s momentum as a top global destination,” said Kevin Lavender, chair of the Board of Directors for the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “The hospitality industry works hard to generate economic activity and tax revenue to make sure the entire city benefits and will always keep an eye on managing growth and staying true to the Music City brand.”
October 2022 was a record month for the city with 935,778 rooms sold – the most room nights ever sold for a single month in Nashville. As well, October 2022 was a record month in hotel tax collections at $12.86 million, breaking the record set in June 2022 at $12.17 million. Achieving this milestone not only reflects pandemic recovery for the city but also the resilience of the city’s tourism industry.
The hospitality industry exceeded expectations in 2022 by keeping occupancy rates strong at a time when a record number of hotel rooms are being built. In just the past five years, close to 11,000 new hotel rooms have opened.
The industry is undertaking a five-year strategic plan on how to maintain momentum and continue to keep Nashville in demand as a destination because more hotel rooms need to be filled: 15 more hotels with 2,567 rooms are under construction to open by the end of 2024. An additional 43 hotels are in the planning stages.
Visitor spending in Nashville in 2022 was estimated at a record $8.8 billion. The number of visitors to Nashville in 2022 was 14.4 million, an increase of 13% over 2021. (Please note: The NCVC now uses a model developed by Tourism Economics to estimate visitation numbers; therefore, comparing current visitation numbers to NCVC visitation figures from past years under the old model would not be an accurate comparison.)
2023 Forecast
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Forecasts indicate Nashville will grow as a market with 2023 projected hotel demand to grow annually by 10% compared to 2022, according to STR and Tourism Economics.
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In 2023, Nashville expects to welcome 15 million visitors outside 50 miles of the city with the large majority being domestic travelers and over 200,000 from outside the United States.
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Visitor spending is projected to come in around $9.3 billion in 2023, up 5% from 2022.
Nashville has a full slate of major events in 2023, including CMA Fest, Let Freedom Sing: July 4th in Music City; Music City Grand Prix; and the NHL Draft and Awards, as well as a full convention calendar.
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City
The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media @VisitMusicCity.
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