By Brianna Williams
NOOGAtoday

The Chattanooga Tourism Summit took place on Tuesday, and we got to take a look at the numbers + how the travel economy fared as the industry faced challenges due to COVID-19.

The city saw an 11 percent decline in tourism from 2019 to 2020. Nevertheless, Chattanooga persisted. 📊

Quote from the summit | Photo by Kelly Lacy via Pexels

To get you up to speed...

$1.2 billion | How much visitors spent in Hamilton County in 2019
11% | How much tourism was down in 2020 from 2019
30,000 | How many jobs were supported by tourism in Hamilton County pre-pandemic
20,000 | Tourism-supported jobs as of April 2020
29,300 | Tourism-supported jobs as of September 2020

Bonus: Chattanooga + Hamilton County fared better than the state average and Tennessee’s three largest cities. #NoogaStrong

Screenshot from the 2020 Chattanooga Tourism Report

Hotel numbers

Chattanooga was in the top half of U.S markets in revenue per available room from March-Dec. of 2020.

In 2020:

Occupancy went down 19.9% from 2019
Revenue went down 32.5% from 2019
Average daily rate went down 15.7% from 2019

2021 forecast for Hamilton County:

Occupancy will go up 9.4% from 2020
Revenue will go up 18.9% from 2020
Average daily rate will go up 8.7% from 2020

Plus, in terms of hotel occupancy, the Chattanooga area was second only to Gatlinburg for leading performance throughout 2020, with the area’s most recent February occupancy levels at roughly 50-55%.

While some beloved favorites like The Dwell Hotel closed its doors this year for pandemic-related reasons, we’ve also had growth in the industry with Hotel Indigo that opened last year, Southside’s Kinley Hotel that opened last week + news of three new hotels coming in 2021. 🏨

Fast facts

4.5 million people looked at Chattanooga content during peak Covid months

Travelers are consuming more Chattanooga content on average — 6% more than the state of Tennessee, 8% more than Nashville + 21% more than Knoxville

Chattanooga has the second-lowest booking window for stays at 30.3 days (which means that we have a smaller gap in time between people visiting + staying in the city).
Throughout the pandemic, most travelers have been focused on attractions involving the outdoors, nature, and parks — aka, some of the best attractions Chattanooga has to offer.

According to data from TripAdvisor, 46% of consumers are more comfortable traveling this year + 81% plan to travel in the next six months.

Poll

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