We at Advance Travel & Tourism were honored to once again attend and sponsor the Tennessee Governor’s Conference on Hospitality & Tourism in Chattanooga. Because TNHTA and Chattanooga Tourism Co. put on such an insightful event, we wanted to share some of our key takeaways from the conference below.  

Before we dive into key takeaways, we certainly want to call attention to our neighbors who are still in need in Northeast Tennessee. In light of recent and current events in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, we’re all reminded of the strength of our personal and professional community here in Tennessee and how important it is to support one another by going above and beyond. If you are interested in helping with recovery efforts, please visit United Way East TN Highlands.   

While you may be familiar with your state’s marketing efforts, I include this update about Tennessee in the hope that sharing more about another state’s tourism conference can provide fresh, innovative ideas for anyone to implement marketing strategies immediately. I find that state conferences offer unique yet universal insights into attracting travelers to all destinations.  

In case you missed it, I’m pleased to share these key conference takeaways with everyone. Please don’t hesitate to let me know about any ways that my team at Advance Travel & Tourism and I can help. — Christy Betz (cbetz@al.com)  

Key Takeaways:  

Tennessee continues to invest in more resources to be able to tell the full story of tourism’s  economic impact on the state.  

• Tennessee has partnered with Tourism Economics to craft a custom model using multiple data sources to tell the economic impact story.  

• Economic Impact is being tracked across Lodging, Food & Bev, Recreation, Shopping, Local Transport, Service Stations, STRs and more to compile the complete picture. The Dept. of Tourist Development works with the Department of Revenue and the Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development to monitor performance of the ‘Leisure & Hospitality’ supersector, according to TN Dept. of Tourist Development 2023 Economic Impact Report.  

• $30.65 billion in direct visitor spending was tracked in 2023, a 26% increase over the previous two years. State and local tax revenue collected amounted to $3.15B.  

• These tourism-related figures accurately represent a savings to every Tennessee household of $1,161 annually.  

Because the economic impact story is so important, the state DMO is investing in tools to assist local destinations to better tell their own story.   

• Working with vendors such as AirDNA on providing expertise on the local Short Term Rental markets and Visa Destination Insights, providing credit card spending data, Tennessee’s local destinations gain access to their insights. Understanding the value of an overnight visitor compared to a daytripper deserves a closer look and more focused efforts.  

• The average daytripper to Tennessee spends about $115 and contributes to about $11 in combined state and local taxes.  

• The average overnight visitor to Tennessee spends over $300 and contributes on average $39 in state and local taxes, nearly 200% more.   

New initiatives and strategic marketing “pillars” are being established to highlight other appealing aspects of Tennessee for visitors.  

• A new brand campaign for 2025 is “Eat & Drink” to highlight the “wide range of food and drink experiences, restaurants, chefs, and tastes across Tennessee. Eat & Drink will complement existing pillars: Live Entertainment/Music, Outdoors, Kid-Friendly, and History & Culture.  

• Bike Tennessee is a new initiative by Rural Tourism & Outreach in which 54 routes are designated as official, geared toward seasoned road cyclists. This positions Tennessee as having the most “official” bike routes in the nation, all of which will be mapped on the Ride With GPS app.  

Stay safe. I’m looking forward to seeing you on the road!