Tourism in Nashville continuing recovery after COVID-19 pandemic

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Cowboy hats and bachelorette sashes are back at the honky-tonks. Masked moms are meandering music museums once more. And weekenders are again willing to wait in line to witness winged works of art.

To the naked eye, Nashville’s $7 billion tourism industry is back. But the reality is more complicated for an industry that was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are six numbers that describe the state of the industry and the road ahead.

$1.14 BILLION in hotel revenue

The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp projects $1.14 billion in hotel revenue in Nashville in 2021. That’s 48 percent higher than the reported 2020 figure but 40 percent below the 2019 figure. Nashville set records in visitors, direct visitor spending and other tourism-related statistics every year from 2009 to 2019 before the pandemic ground that momentum to a halt.