Tennessee Officials Say Tourism Brought In $31.7 Billion In 2024

Image: The Dolly Parton statue in front of the Sevier County courthouse is one of the tourist attractions in the Smoky Mountains. Image Credit: Kim Jarrett | The Center Square & Canva

The Center Square [By Kim Jarrett] –

More tourists visited Tennessee in 2024, according to the 2024 Economic Impact on Travel Report.

The 147 million that visited the state spent $31.7 billion, which brought in $3.3 billion in state tax revenue, according to the report compiled by Tourism Economics. The report defines a visitor as anyone who travels more than 50 miles to a destination or stayed overnight.

“Each household in Tennessee would need to be taxed an additional $1,170 to replace the direct visitor-generated taxes received by destination state and local governments in 2024,” the report said.

The tourism industry supports 194,820 jobs and generates $8.6 billion in personal income, the report said. The food and beverage industry employs the most in the visitor economy-83,500 people. The lodging industry supports more than 44,000 jobs, the report said.

“Tennessee’s tourism momentum is built to last, creating jobs, fueling small businesses, delivering real returns on public investment and generating substantial tax revenues that directly benefit Tennesseans,” said Gov. Bill Lee. “I’m proud of the investments we’ve made to drive intentional growth, and welcome visitors from around the world to experience Tennessee’s urban cities and small towns from Memphis to Mountain City.”

The state is rebounding from the pandemic. Just over 100 million people visited the Volunteer State in 2020, a drop of nearly 25% that year, according to the report. The number of tourists increased in 2021 by 26.5% and spending was up 44% that same year.

“The Tennessee Tourism team has been able to leverage bigger tourism budgets to help grow visitor spending over 35% in these last six years,” said Mark Ezell, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. “We are leading the nation as one of just a few states that are aggressively growing tax revenue from non-Tennessee residents to benefit all seven million Tennesseans.”