Chattanooga attracts hundreds of events every year

Sarah Heming, dressed as Loki; Ben Rumsey, dressed as Thor; and Terry Sherer, dressed as Hulk, pose for an attendee of Con Nooga to take their photo at the  2014 Chattanooga Convention Center.
Sarah Heming, dressed as Loki; Ben Rumsey, dressed as Thor; and Terry Sherer, dressed as Hulk, pose for an attendee of Con Nooga to take their photo at the 2014 Chattanooga Convention Center.

Everyone from cheerleaders to church leaders to deaf tennis players used Chattanooga as a home base for their conventions and events in 2014, and no matter what the season, the city is always brimming with out-of-town visitors.

Chattanooga's location, active downtown and amenities for guests regularly attract hundreds of conventions and group events every year.

By the numbers

* 89 sporting events attended by 96,000 people generated $29 million in economic impact * 135 conventions and nonsporting events attended by 88,000 people generated $42 million in economic impactSource: Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau

The city is a two-hour drive from Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala., and sits at the intersection of three interstates, which makes Chattanooga easy to get to and convenient for large swaths of the South.

And once visitors arrive, another draw for group events is the wide variety of activities, restaurants and attractions downtown, said Kim White, head of the River City Co.

"Whether you want to walk on the Riverwalk or go paddleboarding in the river or go rock climbing, there are just a lot of things to do in a very small, compact area," White said.

When Chattanooga hosted the Ironman triathlon in September 2014, spectators and family members of race participants came into town to watch the race -- but since the atheletes spent much of the day biking 116 miles through North Georgia, many specators spent the day visiting Chattanooga's downtown attractions, like the Creative Discovery Museum.

"What we hear from a lot of people is the fact that Chattanooga still has this authentic quality," White said. "It's not a bunch of chain restaurants in downtown. It's things you can't get other places, and that makes Chattanooga a fun city to explore."

The city's infrastructure is also well-suited to events with hoards of out-of-towners. There are more than 2,200 hotel rooms right in downtown, and another 9,000 rooms within a 15-minute drive of downtown, according to the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau. And the city's free electric shuttle runs by many of those rooms, making getting around downtown easy and quick.

But authenticity is a central factor to the city's popularity, said Bob Doak, president of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We built this community for ourselves," he said. "We did not build our attractions and restaurants for tourists. But when you do that, and you do it right like we have, it will obviously be attractive to tourists."

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