A horse carriage, drive by Keely Gilliland and Chipper, rides past the Chattanooga Choo Choo on the way to the Tennessee Aquarium. The Choo Choo and Aquarium are among the attractions that helped draw more than $1 billion of tourism spending in Hamilton County last year for the first time.
Tourists boosted their spending last year in Hamilton County nearly 3.4 percent to top $1 billion for the first time, according to a study released today by the U.S. Travel Associaton.
Visitors to the Scenic City spent nearly $1.02 billion in 2015, up $33 million from the previous year. Such spending grew slightly faster in Chattanooga than in Knoxville and helped Hamiton County surpass Knox County for tourism expenditures for the first time.
Tourism supported an estimated 7,450 jobs in Hamilton County last year and generated $82.7 million in state and local taxes, according to an analysis prepared by D.K. Shifflet & Associates.
Such gains were similar last year across Tennessee, which boosted the overall size of the state’s tourism economy to more than $17.8 billion. Statewide, 151,780 workers were employed in tourism-related industries in Tennessee.
The Volunteer State ranked in the top 10 destinations in the United States for total travel with more than 105 million visits, the study by D.K. Shifflet & Associates found.