(Mike Osborne) — The Tennessee tourism industry managed to set a new economic impact record last year, even as the pandemic continued to exact a heavy toll on the state's residents.
State officials say Tennessee attracted $24 billion tourist dollars in 2021.
Davidson County led the way, pulling in nearly $8 billion in tourism spending, a 64 percent increase over the year before.
Tourism generated just under $2 billion in tax revenue for the state.
In a press statement, Gov. Bill Lee attributed the growth in tourist spending to his early emphasis on reopening the state even as COVID-19 related deaths continued to rise, saying in part that “Our decision to prioritize strong recovery has yielded record levels of tourism growth."
A total of 13, 856 Tennesseans died of virus-related complications in 2021, more than twice the number of fatalities recorded in 2020.