Nashville’s tourism industry recorded a record high in visitor spending in 2023, at $10.56 billion, with visitors spending an average of $29 million per day across Music City.
Visitor numbers last year were a record high of 16.8 million, up 4% from 2022, according to data from the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
According to Tourism Economics’ latest forecast, the city’s hospitality industry continues to generate economic activity for Nashville, outperforming national trends.
“Nashville has been named the world’s top tourist destination by major travel agencies for 13 consecutive years, and our industry is proud to contribute to the city’s success,” said Deanna Ivey, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation.
Adam Sachs, president of Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, spoke to hospitality industry leaders at the NCVC’s annual luncheon last week.
Although revenues will be down in 2024 compared to 2023, Nashville still outperforms the rest of the country and competing cities.
The city was recently named the third most popular conference destination in North America by Cvent.
The city had four conference hotels ranked in the top five.
Additionally, meetings and events industry data provider Knowland named Nashville the No. 1 large market for meeting volume growth.
Tourism Economics estimates that about 64% of visitors are leisure travelers and 36% are people visiting for meetings, business or group events.
Currently, more than 2,000 hotel rooms are under construction across Nashville, with a total of 13,000 rooms in the planning stages.
Forecasts show that the number of visitors is expected to reach 17.1 million in 2024 and 17.5 million in 2025.
This number is expected to steadily increase in the future, reaching 18.1 million by 2027, when the New Nissan Stadium opens.
By 2033, Nashville is expected to attract more than 20 million annual visitors.
