Tourists pump $170M into community

Sep. 5—Cumberland County visitors pumped about $466,000 into the local economy every day in 2021, a report from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development found.

The county benefited from more than $170 million in tourist spending last year, up from $123.96 million the year before.

"The tourism-based segment of our economy provides jobs and paychecks and has a significant positive effect on all our residents," said Ethan Hadley, president and CEO of the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce. "Tourism helps to keep our taxes lower and our community growing."

Tourism spending generates tax revenue for the state and local governments. The report estimates Cumberland County households pay $191 less in local taxes and $327 less in state taxes because of tourism spending.

"Taxes collected on the dollars spent by visitors throughout Cumberland County help to pay for the serves we receive, everything from roads to schools to public safety and more," Hadley said. "Without that additional income, the gap would have to be compensated with higher local taxes."

Tourism also supports local jobs. About 1,000 Cumberland County jobs are directly associated with tourism, with a payroll of about $31.95 million.

Most tourist spending goes toward food and beverage, with $49.68 million, followed closely by lodging with $49.58 million.

Hadley said revenue from tourist spending also goes into marketing efforts to increase tourism to the community.

The report relies on data from the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics.

But tourism is about more than just bringing people to visit Cumberland County for a short time. Tourism also serves as a recruitment tool to bring new residents to the area.

"Visitation has been the key for conversion to permanent relocation of retirees in Cumberland County," said Mary Jo Paige, director of marketing and events for the Fairfield Glade Community Club.

"The Retire TN program was moved under the Tennessee Department of Tourism because the state also felt that we need to bring people to Tennessee as visitors to convert them to residents. The assumption is once they visit our beautiful state, they will want to live here permanently."

It's a philosophy Fairfield Glade embraces.

Last year, Wyndham, which operates the resort facilities at Fairfield Glade, hosted more than 60,800 visitors. This year, the company had hosted about 34,320 through Aug. 8.

Paige said the community club has also been focusing on increasing visits to the area.

"Because of those visits, our population growth since 2011 has been over 32%," Paige said. "We've gone from a population of approximately 7,100 residents in 2011 to over 9,400 and counting in a banner year for new residents."

While Cumberland County enjoyed a 37% increase in tourist spending over 2020, which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, spending is still slightly below 2019 figures. The county reported $175.02 million in tourism spending that year.

Overall, Tennessee tourism generated $24.2 billion in travel spending in 2021.It marks the largest visitor spending nationally in Tennessee's history, with visitors spending an estimated $66 million per day. Travel generated $1.9 billion in state and local tax revenue and represented the third largest employment sector in the state.

"Tourism drives economic development and job creation so that every Tennessean can thrive," said Gov. Bill Lee. "Our decision to prioritize strong recovery has yielded record levels of tourism growth, and we continue to welcome visitors to see all Tennessee has to offer, from the Mississippi River to the Great Smoky Mountains."

All 95 counties saw an increase in visitor spending over 2020, and 51 counties fully recovered, surpassing their 2019 visitor spending records.

Cumberland County ranked 15th in the state for tourist spending.

"Tennessee is crushing it with the largest visitor spending national market share for Tennesseans in our history," said Mark Ezell, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

"Tennessee is one of the top travel destinations in the world because of our tremendous assets, including our unmatched scenic beauty, diverse cities and small towns, as well as our world-class attractions, music, cultural and historical sites. We're so grateful to this industry and our partners and blessed visitors come experience these destinations and support local businesses, local restaurants and local lodging and support communities."

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.