NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As the summer season comes to an end, tourism officials say visitors in Music City aren't going anywhere.
"We have created an environment where there is so much to offer, from the great music venues downtown and in and around Broadway, to pro-football and other professional sports- like soccer for instance," said President and CEO of the Greater Nashville Hospitality Association, Leesa LeClaire.
Big events over the last three months meant big money for the city, like CMA Fest which generated $65.2 million in visitor spending.
Hotels in particular are making a rebound. June broke records as the single month with the most room nights ever sold in Davidson County.
But with that demand in tourism comes the demand for more hospitality workers throughout the city, which continues to be a challenge.
"You know, I think about all of the hotels that we've added here in town, and that just adds a lot more pressure and new positions opened," said LeClaire.
"We've made great strides on our staffing," said Area Director of Sales & Marketing, Omni Nashville Hotel, Tod Roadarmel. "You know we're still a little bit understaffed, but we're getting there. We're trying to get more creative to get folks to come in our doors and handle the high volume of business we're getting right now."
Roadarmel said hotel management has gotten creative, offering things like sign-on bonuses, automatic vacation days and four 10-hour day work weeks.
"You know we've had since the pandemic, since March of '20, we've probably had another 3,000 or more hotel rooms open in the downtown central business district," said Roadarmel. "So with selling a record number that shows that demand is still there because there's enough to go around for everybody."
Officials say they don't see tourism numbers slowing down any time soon, and Nashville will continue to be an in-demand destination.
