NASHVILLE – Two of Nashville’s premier music events, Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th and CMA Fest, have set new records, contributing significantly to the local economy, according to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. Major stadium concerts have also played a crucial role in driving leisure visitation to the city.
“Nashville’s tourism economy, built on our vibrant live music scene, is truly a driving force of our city’s success,” stated Deana Ivey, President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “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.”
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### Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th
The free Independence Day concert and fireworks show, which featured drone lights for the first time, led to the highest number of hotel rooms ever sold on July 4th in Davidson County, with 27,136 rooms filled, surpassing the previous peak in 2019. Visitor spending reached a record-breaking $17.5 million. The record-breaking crowd of approximately 355,000 represented a 42% increase from last year’s event.
Surveys indicated that about half of the visitors attended primarily for the downtown event, with around 80% being first-time attendees. Concurrently, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center hosted the Delta Sigma Theta Southern Regional Conference with 4,500 attendees, further contributing to hotel occupancy.
### CMA Fest
Country music’s signature festival, CMA Fest, generated an estimated $77.3 million in direct visitor spending, a 3.5% increase over the previous year. About 90,000 fans attended daily from June 6-9, hailing from all 50 states and 46 countries, as reported by the Country Music Association.
The average travel party consisted of 3.4 people, spending $3,608 and staying five nights. Approximately half of the visitors traveled by air, and 11.4% were international. Downtown hotel room sales during the four-day event increased nearly 5% from the previous year, with a peak occupancy rate of 93.5% on Friday night. The top five states outside of Tennessee contributing to attendance were Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California.
### Concerts and More
Apart from downtown music events, the weekend of June 28-29 saw the second-highest hotel room demand on record, with 74,983 rooms sold, a 13% increase from the same weekend last year. The Zach Bryan concert at Nissan Stadium on June 29 resulted in a downtown hotel occupancy rate of 97.4%. Additionally, the ALLY 400 NASCAR CUP SERIES at Nashville Superspeedway took place that weekend.
Nashville set a new record for hotel room sales during the first weekend in May, driven by Morgan Wallen concerts at Nissan Stadium, a Predators home playoff game, and various college and university graduations, with over 75,500 rooms sold—the highest in the city’s history for a Friday and Saturday.
### Upcoming Events
Future concerts and sporting events expected to continue driving leisure visitation through early fall include:
– August 3: Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown Band at Nissan Stadium
– August 9-10: Chris Stapleton at Bridgestone Arena
– September 7: Dierks Bentley at Bridgestone Arena
– September 15: New York Jets at Tennessee Titans
– September 22: Green Bay Packers at Tennessee Titans
### The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Visit Music City aim to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry by promoting Nashville as a premier destination. For more information, visit www.visitmusiccity.com and follow @VisitMusicCity on social media.
Source: Read Original Release
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