It looks like out-of-towners just can’t get enough of Beale Street and barbecue this year. A recent report by Memphis Tourism shows that tourism numbers aren’t just thriving in the first quarter of 2022, but in some cases are up from 2019 pre-pandemic highs.
According to Memphis Tourism, Q1 of this year has seen more than 900,000 hotel room nights sold to visitors, which outperforms quarterly 2019 demand trends by 2.5 percent within the city limits. That figure is also 19.8 percent more rooms sold, year-over-year, in comparison to 2021.
“The resilience of our local hospitality industry has kept our tourism economy moving in the most challenging of times and we are seeing a sustained rebound,” said Kevin Kane, president and CEO of Memphis Tourism. “The diversity of attractions and activities, along with the drivability and affordability of the Memphis destination have truly given us momentum, putting us in a strong position, often ahead of the national average on hotel occupancy.”
Broadening to the whole of Shelby County, hotels are only one percentage point behind 2019 demand levels for Q1-2022. But that’s a 20.2 percent increase in the same time frame from 2021.
“As an organization dedicated to encouraging travel, the pandemic presented unique challenges in promoting Memphis as a leisure travel and meetings destination,” said Regena Bearden, chief marketing officer for Memphis Tourism. “Our message to visitors was about their personal level of comfort. We never went dark on our marketing efforts and our ‘When You’re Ready to Rock, We’ll be Ready to Roll’ campaign kept us on the radar of travelers. That really set the tone for our destination and as restrictions eased, we started to see hotel occupancy rise and that has continued through Q1 of 2022.”
Memphis Tourism made the announcement in concurrence with National Travel and Tourism Week, an annual celebration of contributions of the U.S. travel industry. As part of the celebrations, the Renasant Convention Center will host TravelCon, a three-day conference from April 29 to May 1, which is set to bring 50+ speakers, 40 sponsors, and 600 attendees to Memphis.
