Nashville tourism hits record numbers this summer, driving up economic impact

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Summer tourism is at a peak this year in Nashville, with popular events like CMA Fest and Ally 400 bringing in plenty of visitors, which in turn is driving up monetary impact and hotel stays.

According to Nashville's Convention and Visitor Corp, two main summertime tourism events — Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th and CMA Fest — saw record-breaking numbers of people.

Wondering what the money looked like? Or how many people actually came to Nashville for these events? We've got the numbers for you.

Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4
Hotel rooms filled: 27,136
Visitor Spending: $17.5 million
People: approximately 355,000 — a 42% increase from last year, according to Nashville's Convention and Visitor Corp.

CMA Fest
Spending: $77.3 million, 3.5% increase from last year
People: approximately 90,000 fans daily (June 6 - 9), from all 50 states and 46 countries, according to the Country Music Association.
Rooms sold downtown: up 5% compared to last year

These events aren't the only thing driving tourists to Nashville.

On June 28 and 29, Zach Bryan was in town and the Ally 400 Nascar Speedway took place. Hotel room demand was the second best Nashville has seen, with 74,983 rooms sold.

When Morgan Wallen was at Nissan Stadium and the Nashville Predators were in a home playoff game on the same weekend as several university graduations, more then 75,500 hotel rooms sold, which Nashville Convention and Visitor Corp says is the most ever in Nashville's history on a Friday and Saturday.

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Carrie: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/2e/72/be0f23854c54a228c9d6138c9847/carrie-recommends-header.png

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Remembering Eudora Boxley, a trailblazing TV cook from WLAC's early days

I LOVE Forrest's stories on the history of NewsChannel 5 as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. Here's a story I wasn't familiar with until recently. Eudora Boxley had a live cooking show in the early days of the station. She may have been the first black on air at NewsChannel 5 and perhaps, one of the first African Americans to have a TV cooking show anywhere in the country. It wasn't until her grandson reached out to me that I even heard of Ms. Boxley. Thankfully, I was able to connect him with Forest to learn more about this great nugget in NewsChannel 5 history.

-Lelan Statom