Knox County falls below Hamilton County in tourism spending for first time (Knoxville: good schools)

[MetropolitanTN]

For the first time ever, Hamilton County has moved ahead of Knox County in tourism spending to push into fourth place statewide, according to local officials. Hamilton historically is the fifth largest county for tourism in the state, according to the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau.
New numbers by the Travel Industry of America show that Hamilton is now fourth in the state, with an $893.3 million economic impact, the Visitors Bureau said in a news release. That’s up 10.3 percent over 2010, according to the CVB, and trails only Davidson, Shelby and Sevier Counties.


Knox County falls below Hamilton County in tourism spending for first time » Knoxville News Sentinel


Thoughts? I think we need a tourist attraction in this city.

[NJDevil]

I agree. I'm surprised it took this long. People on this forum hate when I say this but if you take away the mountains and Sevier county, I don't see what is appealing about Knoxville. I'm just looking at it as an objective outsider would. All we have is Boomsday....I wish they took advantage of the river more. I think the cruises we have are pretty lame.

[hiknapster]

Wow, there is so much more to the story than this. Do you all know anything about our tourism board and the enormous controversy?

It doesn't surprise me that we were outspending a tourist town when we are clearly not one. Very long story short, we recently ousted the head of our tourism board after allegations of epic mismanagement. Part of the problem was the colossal salary were were paying Gloria Ray. We were paying her in 2010-11 a base salary of $221,668, a bonus of $166,522 plus retirement benefits of $21,637 and other compensation of $1,571. We just agreed to pay Kim Bumpas $125,000 with a 401k of $12,500. And of course there was far more money flying around under Ray. It was big news for quite awhile. We found we were spending oodles of money while Ray was inflating numbers.

Look, I've said it before. I don't want to live in a tourist town. The regulars have heard this story ad nauseum. I looked long and hard at Chattanooga before moving to Tennessee. Now it may be a great fit for a heck of a lot of people but to me I prefer Knoxville, geared towards its denizens and not a flock of tourists. I get that some people think Sevier County is the bees knees. I really do. And occasionally I take my daughter up there. And I think that Chattanooga is a lot of fun for a weekend vacation. But to live and work I love Knoxville. I've lived in tourist traps with the traffic, jacked-up prices and rude and pushy - it only takes a few bad ones to ruin your day - tourists. I like that Knoxville has a small but vibrant downtown with very good schools, a low cost of living and friendly people. If it ever, ever becomes a tourist town I am so, so out of here.

Frankly, I don't measure my satisfaction of a place by how it appeals to tourists. Lately, I am really regretting the tourists that are downtown. They are making it crowded and frankly, I don't like that when I turn to talk to them they become mortified. Ugh. Boomsday? The talk among my friends is how Boomsday is now to be avoided. It is crowded with a lot of jostling, pushing and often an element of something else I don't want to be around.