NASHVILLE – Nashville’s tourism industry continues to be an economic driver for the city and local businesses, generating a record $10.56 billion in visitor spending in 2023, with visitors spending an average of $29 million a day throughout the city, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today. The city saw a record 16.8 million visitors last year, a 4% increase over 2022’s 16.2 million visitors.
The latest forecast from Tourism Economics show that the city’s hospitality industry continues to thrive, create economic activity for Nashville and outpace the rest of the country during a market shift with national trends showing leisure travelers being more budget conscious and convention and business travel returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“Nashville has been named a top global destination by major travel outlets for a remarkable 13 years in a row now, and our industry is proud to contribute to our city’s success by creating jobs, generating tax revenue, and fueling economic growth for local businesses,” said Deana Ivey, President and CEO, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “We don’t take our destination’s success for granted, and in our planning, we work not only on today and tomorrow but also next year and next decade to keep our industry growing.”
Adam Sacks, President of Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, spoke to hospitality industry leaders at the NCVC’s annual luncheon last week and said that despite the travel industry entering 2024 with a slowing economy and weakening household finances, he believes tourism growth to Nashville will prevail despite these economic challenges.
Even as revenues are lessened in 2024 compared to 2023, Nashville outpaces the rest of the country and competitor cities, including in air passenger volume and occupancy rates, which Sacks said reflects “how remarkable performance has been in Nashville.” He confidently predicts that room demand, rates and revenue will continue to grow annually at modest rates through 2026.
Travel sentiment remains stable with 93% of travelers saying they have travel plans in the next six months, with the caveat that inflation could impact their travel decisions, Sacks said. But travel is more important to people than it was a year ago, and as inflation comes down and real income rises, people will continue to prioritize travel and find other places in their budgets to cut, the economist said. Additionally, convention and business travel plans are strengthening.
The city was recently named the third most popular meetings destination in North America by Cvent, an event planning and marketing company. The city also dominated the list of top meetings hotels in North America with four of the city’s hotels ranked among the top five: Grand Hyatt Nashville at No. 1, Omni Nashville Hotel at No. 2, JW Marriott Nashville at No. 4, and Renaissance Nashville Hotel at No. 5. And Knowland, a meetings and events industry data provider, named Nashville as the No. 1 large market for meetings volume growth.
Of the visitors coming here, Tourism Economics estimates about 64% are leisure travelers, and 36% are those who come for conventions and business, including business meetings, reunions, student groups, and other groups and meetings that book 10 or more rooms per night.
The city’s popularity as a leisure destination was underscored earlier this month with a record-breaking weekend for hotels on May 3-4, which included Morgan Wallen concerts at Nissan Stadium, numerous college and university graduations, and a Nashville Predators playoff game. More than 75,000 hotel rooms were sold that Friday and Saturday – the most ever in the city’s history. The number of hotel rooms sold slightly exceeded the number sold the same weekend in 2023, which coincided with the Taylor Swift Eras tour. The hotel occupancy rate Friday for the Nashville MSA was 94%, the highest among the top 25 markets nationwide. Downtown’s occupancy rate was a nearly unprecedented 98% with virtually every room in the urban core booked.
As visitor growth begins to stabilize following recent boom years - and with more than 2,000 hotel rooms currently under construction and a total of 13,000 in the pipeline - the industry’s vitality hinges on-demand generators such as stadium concerts, major events and a healthy convention calendar. At the end of 2023, Nashville was ranked as one of the top five cities for hotel-construction pipeline globally, according to HotelDive.com.
Visitation
The city saw a record 16.8 million visitors last year, a 4% increase over 2022’s 16.2 million visitors. Forecasts show 17.1 million visitors in 2024 and 17.5 million the following year in 2025. Future years indicate steady growth to 18.1 million in 2027, the year the New Nissan Stadium opens, creating the next wave of tourism in Nashville. By 2033, Nashville is projected to exceed the impressive benchmark of 20 million annual visitors.
Of the 16.8 million visitors in 2023, 11.2 million are overnight visitors and 5.6 million are day visitors. Of those staying overnight, 7.9 million stayed in hotels, 1.2 million in short-term rentals and 2 million with friends and family.
Visitor Spending
Visitor spending in 2023 of $10.56 billion is a strong 5.9% increase over 2022. Forecasts show visitor spending growing to $10.84 billion 2024 and $12.07 billion by 2027.
International Visitors
International visitors are forecast to grow to 453,000 in 2024, exceeding the pre-pandemic 2019 record by 16%. By 2026, Nashville is expected to welcome over half a million international visitors, a 42% increase over 2023.
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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