Nashville Music Events Break Records In Visitor Spending

/by

Photo: Alan Poizner for Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

According to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp (NCVC), CMA Fest and “Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th” 2024 experienced record-breaking numbers in visitor spending. Stadium concerts have also helped to drive leisure visitation this year.

“Nashville’s tourism economy, built on our vibrant live music scene, is truly a driving force of our city’s success,” says Deana Ivey, NCVC President & CEO. “It creates jobs, generates tax revenue, boosts our local businesses and supports our musicians and creative culture. We’re thrilled to see our major-event strategy leading to record-breaking visitor spending and hotel room nights sold.”

CMA Fest, which took place June 6–9, generated $77.3 million in estimated direct visitor spending, 3.5% more than the 50th anniversary celebration last year. Almost 90,000 fans from across all 50 states and 46 countries attended the event daily. The average travel party size was 3.4 people, spending $3,608 and staying five nights. About half of attendees indicated they traveled by air, and 11.4% of visitors surveyed were international. The number of downtown rooms sold over the four-day function was up nearly 5% over last year, and the occupancy rate downtown peaked at 93.5% on Friday night (June 7). The top five feeder states outside of Tennessee were Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and California.

“Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th,” the free Independence Day concert and fireworks show, resulted in the most hotel nights ever booked on July 4 in Davidson County with 27,136 rooms filled. The spectacle, which included drone lights for the first time, amassed $17.5 million in vistor spending. The crowd of approximately 355,000 marked a 42% increase compared to last year.

Additionally, Morgan Wallen‘s stint at Nissan Stadium during the first weekend May helped to set an all-time record for hotel sales, alongside a Predators’ home playoff game and numerous college and university graduations, with more than 75,500 hotel rooms booked-the most ever in the city’s history for a Friday and Saturday.

The weekend of June 28-29 was the second-best weekend on record in terms of hotel-room demand with a total of 74,983 rooms sold, a 13% increase compared that same weekend last year. Driving visitation was Zach Bryan‘s concert at Nissan Stadium on June 29, resulting in downtown hotel occupancy of 97.4% that day, along with the Ally 400 Nascar Cup Series at Nashville Superspeedway.

Liza Anderson
Latest posts by Liza Anderson (see all)