Williamson County Tourism Climbs 'Top 10' List

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- When the Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau was restructured in 2007, Williamson County ranked 8th in Tennessee for visitor spending.  For as long as anyone can remember Williamson has held that slot behind Davidson, Shelby, Sevier Knox, Hamilton, Sullivan and Blount Counties. In 2009, Williamson claimed the number 7 position.

Visitors to Tennessee spent more than 19 Billion dollars in 2009 making it the state's second largest industry. Out of Tennessee's 95 counties, Williamson moved up to the number 7 position for visitor related spending coming in just ahead of Blount County. Dr. Steve Morse, Director and Economist for the Tourism Institute at the University of Tennessee Knoxville released the 2009 figures at the recent Governors Conference on Tourism in Kingsport, TN. According to the report, which analyzes 2009 visitor spending in Tennessee, tourists spent an average of $724,697 per day on hotels, transportation, restaurants, retail, recreation and entertainment in Williamson County. (Source: [1], [2])

"Tourism is a clean and powerful economic engine for Williamson County. The real benefit of tourism is how much our citizens save each year in state and local taxes," said Julian Bibb, Chair of the Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

As a result of local tourist spending, each Williamson County household pays an average of $346 less in local and state taxes. (Source: [2], [3]) Travel related spending generates just over 2,400 jobs and more than $48 million in worker income and paychecks in Williamson County. (Source: [1])  Overall visitor spending was down 3.87% from $275 million in 2008 to $264 million in 2009. Statewide visitor spending was down 7.3%.

"Williamson County has more than 3,700 hotel rooms and more on the way. In addition to sales tax revenue from visitor spending, an additional $4.8 million in lodging taxes was collected in Williamson County, Franklin, Brentwood and Fairview in 2009. "Each year a small percentage of the visitor paid lodging tax is re-invested in marketing through the work of the Convention & Visitors Bureau," said Mark Shore, Executive Director of the WCCVB. "We have an awesome product to promote but the visitor has many quality destination choices for meetings and leisure travel. Our goal is to encourage tourism and positively impact Williamson County travel expenditures.  Ultimately the return on investment means more revenue that can be used for schools, services and public safety."

Data provided to the WCCVB by Smith Travel Research indicates that Williamson County's hotel industry is seeing positive numbers for 2010. Year-to-date numbers through September 2010 indicate that the number of hotel rooms sold is up 19 percent with total hotel revenue up 18 percent for Williamson County.

The Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau (WCCVB) is a 501(c)6 not-for-profit and is the official destination marketing organization for Williamson County and the City of Franklin Tennessee. The WCCVB promotes the City of Franklin, Williamson County and the unique communities within to visitors across the state, the U.S. and worldwide. For additional information contact the WCCVB by phone 615.791.7554, fax 615.550.2707, toll free 866.253.9207, on the web at www.VisitWilliamson.com or by mail 108 4th Avenue South, Suite 203, Franklin, TN, 37064.

Sources

[1]    TN Dept. of Tourist Development; "The Economic Impact of Travel on Tennessee Counties" (2001-09) Nashville, TN; Web: www.tnvacation.com

[2]    Tourism Institute, University of Tennessee  -  Knoxville; Dr. Steve Morse; Web: www.utk.edu/tourism

[3]    U.S. Census Bureau; State and County Quick Facts; http://www.census.gov

SOURCE Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau