Tourism chief credits marketing effort for boost in visitors

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ? A multi-million dollar marketing effort touting Tennessee as a tourist destination has paid dividends and needs to be continued, Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Susan Whitaker said.

“Tourism is not an expense, it’s an investment,” Whitaker said while in Knoxville Thursday for a meeting of the East Tennessee Marketing Partnership. “You can count on the money to bring in people that spend more money.”

Tennessee tourism officials say the state jumped one spot last year to No. 11 on a list of most-visited states, passing Nevada and its top tourist destination, Las Vegas.

Tennessee hosted 44 million visitors in 2004 and tourism is a nearly $11 billion industry for the state, employing more than 177,000 workers, according to the Department of Tourist Development.

Whitaker said the rise in visitors has to do with increased marketing efforts by the state through a one-time, $4.5 million appropriation by the Tennessee General Assembly.

A portion of the money was used to launch a branding campaign featuring Tennessee entertainers Dolly Parton and Isaac Hayes.

The state is advertising in 14 markets, while before this year Tennessee advertised in four markets.

The state also launched a news bureau that serves as an outlet for tourism-related information, expert tourism sources and photography and video services for media.

Whitaker has asked the state for another $4.75 million for the next fiscal year. She said she’s interested in using part of the money to expand the state’s Internet marketing campaign in hopes of reaching younger travelers.

East Tennessee is leading the increase in visitors to the state, with Dollywood ranked No. 1 in an annual survey ranking the state’s tourist attractions by attendance. The top four most-visited attractions were in East Tennessee.