Nashville, Tennessee has topped the hospitality industry charts with an unprecedented 60 straight months of year-over-year record number of hotel rooms sold and hotel taxes collected.
“Exceptional and sustained growth at this level is further validation of Nashville as a top global destination and the appeal of our Music City brand,” said Mayor Megan Barry. “As Nashville’s second-largest industry, hospitality continues to serve as a vital economic engine in the city by creating jobs and generating much-needed revenue. I am thankful for all the men and women who work to promote our city to visitors and make their stays more enjoyable while they are here.”
Based on research by Hendersonville-based STR, a leading global provider of competitive benchmarking, information services and research to the hotel industry, only one other city has gotten close with a 59-month streak that ended in January, 2015, reports Amanda Hite, president and COO of STR.
“In the 28 years STR has been collecting and aggregating hotel data, no other top 50 destination has ever seen demand grow for 60 straight months,” Hite said. “This robust demand has helped drive significant rate growth, which has further helped fuel Nashville’s economy.”
The city, which has become a popular meetings and incentive travel destination, has recently received a slate of accolades:
♦ Travel + Leisure’s Readers’ Choice Destination of the Year (2015). Runners-up included Charleston, Cuba and Paris.
♦ Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2016 Top Ten City. Nashville was the only U.S. city to make the list that also included Kotor, Montenegro; Quito, Ecuador; and Dublin, Ireland.
♦ TripAdvisor announced that Nashville showed the greatest increase in popularity among travelers outside the U.S.—a 38 percent year-over-year increase in interest among international visitors.
“These recent accolades validate our sustained performance in positioning Nashville as a premier global destination,” said Ken Levitan, board chair of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and co-president of Vector Management. “All our partners in the industry deserve credit for working together, keeping a laser-focus on our Music City brand and staying the course.”
Hospitality is Nashville’s second-largest industry with annual visitor spending generating $5.42 billion USD, 31 percent of all visitor spending in the state.
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