Hamilton County hotels top 2 million room rentals

A view of Miller Park and the surrounding area in downtown Chattanooga is shown.
A view of Miller Park and the surrounding area in downtown Chattanooga is shown.

Hamilton County reached a tourism milestone, with more hotel guests spending the night here than ever before in the past year.

"For the first time ever, we sold more than 2 million hotel rooms," said Bob Doak, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Collectively, the attractions in our county had the best year they had in a decade."

During the bureau's annual meeting Tuesday, Doak reeled off a slew of optimistic figures about Chattanooga, which this year became a two-time winner of Outside magazine's Best Town title.

photo Bob Doak, President and CEO of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

Tourism generated $21 million in local sales tax revenue, Doak said, and visitors spent more than $1 billion in Hamilton County, creating 8,500 jobs.

Chattanooga beat out Port Angeles, Wash., for best town with more than 52 percent of the final round voting, winning by a 67,432-to-62,130 vote margin.

"We are the first city to ever win this award twice," Doak said.

He credited Chattanooga's victory in part to the Convention and Visitors Bureau's online, email and social media presence. The bureau sent 1.7 million emails over the past year, Doak said, some of which encouraged recipients to vote for Chattanooga in the best town contest.

"We can reach half a million people at the push of a button," Doak said.

Tom Cupo, general manager of The Chattanoogan hotel and the new chairman of the Convention and Visitors Bureau's executive committee, told the crowd that Chattanooga has brighter days ahead.

"There is so much momentum in our city, and the future is bright," Cupo said.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetfor business or 423-757-6651.

Upcoming Events