Mark Ezell, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, went to Sevier County to congratulate the Tennessee tourism team for a record-breaking year.
“Tennessee is crushing it with the largest visitor spending national market share for Tennesseans in our history,” Ezell said in a recent statement.
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Tennessee’s Department of Tourism is touting a report saying that the state brought in a record $24.2 billion in tourism spending in 2021.
That number came from a report commissioned and paid for by the department and completed by a company called Tourism Economics, a subsidiary of another company named Oxford Economics whose purpose is to conduct these reports for clients.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is touting the $77 billion 2023 fiscal year budget that she says will improve Michigan’s economy and workforce.
Whitmer bragged that the budget negotiated with Republicans doesn’t raise taxes. However, it also keeps $7 billion of taxpayer money locked in state coffers while spending another $7 billion more than the prior budget.
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In the first quarter of 2022, 36 million people visited the Sunshine State, a 39.6% percent increase from the same eriod last year, according to VISIT FLORIDA.
It’s the third consecutive quarter that overall visitation to Florida has surpassed pre-pandemic visitation levels.
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The largest treehouse resort in the world is coming soon to the Smoky Mountain area of East Tennessee. The Sanctuary Treehouse Resort will be the world’s largest resort of its kind, situated on 40 acres in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, according to the resort’s owners.
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Tennessee State Parks had an economic impact of $2.1 billion in Fiscal Year 2021, as the parks posted 38.5 million visits, according to a report done for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), the department announced Monday.
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One thing that most native Nashvillians will tell you is to avoid the party buses. They are often full of young, drunk tourists and are to be avoided at all costs.
However, when a publicist/friend told me about the Music City Rollin’ Jamboree, she advised, “It’s different.”
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Arizona’s businesses are soon to get a shot in the arm from COVID-19 vaccinated international visitors as the U.S. reopens its borders to leisure travel.
The Biden administration will reopen the country’s borders Monday for nonessential travel. The opening marks 18 months of borders closed to nonessential travel because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The decision was announced in October. It does not apply to illegal border crossings.
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In Bristol, Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the United States Wildlife Services have agreed to continue the popular trout stocking program. The program focuses on funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have been providing both the state of Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout.
The programs funding for the hatcheries began in 2013, witch have been managed by “the Service,” consisting of Dale Hollow and Erwin in Tennessee, and Chattahoochee Forest in Georgia. After the Service, the fish are then put into these main rivers and reservoirs: Apalachia (Hiwassee River), Blue Ridge, Boone, Cherokee, Fort Patrick Henry, Normandy, Norris, South Holston, Tims Ford and Wilbur. Trout-stocked reservoirs in the plan include Fort Patrick Henry, South Holston, Parksville, Watauga and Wilbur reservoirs.
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Tourism spending in Tennessee dropped in 2020 for the first time in 10 years, according to data from the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics.
Tennessee tourism spending fell 31.6%, less than the 42% decline nationally.
Within that decline was a 78.7% drop in spending from international visitors during a year that was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, according to a report compiled by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.
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More than 800 businesses and business associations are jointly urging the Virginia General Assembly to approve a budget item for $291 million in relief to the travel and hospitality industries, which was proposed by Gov. Ralph Northam.
Northam’s proposal would appropriate funds from the federally passed American Rescue Plan to help these industries bounce back from losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic restrictions. The General Assembly is scheduled to meet on Aug. 2 to consider the budget proposal.
The businesses and business associations signed a joint letter showing their support. It includes the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Restaurant Lodging and Travel Association.
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Gov. Doug Ducey is investing $101.1 million from the federal American Rescue Plan funding to launch the Visit Arizona Initiative to increase tourism spending in Arizona and expedite its economic recovery.
“Tourism is essential for Arizona’s booming economy and job growth,” Ducey said in a release.
He said that when tourists stay at Arizona hotels, eat at restaurants, buy Arizona products, and partake in the state’s recreational activities, Arizona’s economy booms.
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In an attempt to continue the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the state of Tennessee will utilize an unprecedented marketing effort — paying out-of-state tourists to travel to the state.
The program, initiated by Governor Bill Lee and dubbed “Tennessee on Me,” will grant $250 airline vouchers to any individual who travels to Tennessee’s largest cities and stays at least two nights.
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Independence Day 2020 was a lackluster affair for many, made all the sadder by attempts to celebrate July 4 amid pandemic-induced isolation without the parades, public firework shows and other communal and family gatherings that traditionally accompany the summer holiday.
The city of Miami and others staged “virtual fireworks displays” and at least 60 Florida communities made attempts to stage public events, including socially distanced parades, but with about 80% of traditional observations canceled, July 4, 2020, was nothing to celebrate.
Not so for July 4, 2021.
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Walt Disney Co. reported fiscal fourth-quarter loss on Thursday thanks largely to changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its earnings were dragged by costs from restructuring related to its streaming services and lost revenue from its California theme parks, which remain closed amid surging coronavirus cases in the U.S.
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Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Metro Council Member-At-Large Steve Glover to the studio to discuss the now unpopular Nashville Mayor John Cooper.
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Nashville-based Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. estimates it has lost about $40 million in revenue over fears of the coronavirus.
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The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to crack down on foreign nationals who visit the United States with the explicit intention to give birth, taking advantage of the country’s birthright citizen laws.
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On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy and special guest Ben Cunnigham – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy and Cunningham talked about Cunningham’s recent Tweets stating that he would hold John Cooper accountable to his implied commitments to the reallocation of Davidson County funds and not raising property taxes.
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