Skift Take
Nashville’s rise in reputation as a gathering vacation spot wasn’t a fluke. It was pushed by a strategic plan 20 years within the making.
Nashville ranks quantity two on Cvent’s 2023 High Assembly Locations in North America listing, beating out the likes of Las Vegas and Chicago and trailing solely Orlando. The town made the highest 10 of the itemizing yearly since 2014, however it had by no means positioned increased than sixth.
How does this metropolis set smack in the midst of Tennessee beat out a metropolis like Las Vegas?
“We’ve all the time strived to be a top-tier vacation spot that performs with the An inventory,” mentioned Deana Ivey, president and CEO of Nashville Conference & Guests Corp (NCVC). “We is probably not as massive as these different locations, however we’re fierce and scrappy. We’ve all the time labored actually onerous to over-deliver. That’s our technique, and it’s labored for us.”
For Ivey, the secret is that the town understands and capitalizes on its strengths. The NCVC has finished a stellar job at advertising the vacation spot as Music Metropolis, and conventions, conferences, and enterprise occasions have taken be aware.
Nashville’s tourism trade and conventions generated report financial exercise for the town. In 2022, it set a brand new report of 9.5 million room nights bought, with demand at 108% of 2019 ranges. The town has 272 motels, with 38,841 rooms inside Davidson County, and can add 2,500+ lodge rooms by 2024.
A sport changer was the opening of the Music Metropolis Middle in 2013. Strategically constructed to allow Nashville to draw giant, city-wide conventions within the downtown space. The placement works nicely, with nearly 14,000 lodge rooms inside one mile of the venue. Thus far, it has hosted greater than 2,335 occasions with 4.4 million attendees who contributed $3.3 billion in direct financial influence for the town.
The Music Metropolis Model
About 20 years in the past, Nashville went by way of a strategic planning course of and put a stake within the floor concerning the Music Metropolis model. “Though we had been identified by that identify for a few years, it took a whole lot of citywide advertising and PR efforts to get everybody on board to embrace it after which begin telling the remainder of the world that we’re the Music Metropolis,” mentioned Ivey.
This was no easy endeavor. It was a citywide course of that concerned greater than 150 group leaders. Collaboration is on the core of all of it. “In Nashville, we additionally profit from being an in depth group. We have now robust partnerships with our motels, sights, and eating places, in addition to metropolis organizations like Metro Police, Fireplace and OEM. On this method, being a smaller metropolis is a bonus,” mentioned Ivey.
A part of the strategic planning course of concerned working with a music historian to delve deep into the town’s musical roots. The findings are fascinating, going all the way in which again to the 1870s. when the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of scholars at Fisk College toured the world. Their efforts helped fund the varsity’s mission of training individuals previously enslaved after the Civil Battle. It additionally put Nashville on the map as a world music middle.
Ivey has been within the trenches with the Nashville Conference & Guests Corp. for 26 years. She changed Butch Spyridon as CEO in July. Each had been instrumental in overseeing and coordinating the NCVC’s advertising and gross sales efforts to make Nashville a world vacation spot.
Influencers Can Assist
Ivey says influencers assist Nashville attain a wider viewers and enhance visibility. The numerous celebrities, songwriters, and musicians who stay within the metropolis and have nice social media attain. It helps that they love the town and share their sentiments on their feeds.
At a latest Nashville Soccer Membership match, Reese Witherspoon, a minority proprietor, and Nicole Kidman had been within the viewers, posting about it. “Discuss nice PR,” mentioned Ivey.
