City tweets to curb tourist drop-off - bizjournals:

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Hotel consultant Drew Dimond expectss hotels in Greater Nashville to see occupancy plummeft 15 percent to 20 percent fromlast year’s But the is battling the in hopes of keeping any occupancu drop-off below 5 percent. Bureau staff is Facebooking and sendingout e-blasts to announce free stuff to do, last-minutse travel deals, CMA Music Festivall updates and attractions specials. “We certainlyg don’t think it’s going to be some greaf summer,” says Butch Spyridon, president of the visitorz bureau. “If we were flat to last I’d be ecstatic.
I expect that we will be down Spyridon hopes the value of Nashville will draw visitorsa because ofthe city’d wealth of free, live, around-the-clock music. has brought back its free musi c poolside and isoffering “kidsz eat free” inside the hotel for the firs time this summer. “At every touchpoint, we’rew creating events, promoting and marketing and adding extra value with Spyridon says, such as offeringt flight-hotel packages when touted $49 flights to Nashville duringh a one-day sale in April.
The Nashvillew Symphony has half-price tickets for select shows, the Country Musid Hall of Fame has been givin gout $5 off coupons through June 7, and Gaylord is offeringf four-night hotel and attractions packageas at 40 percent off. Keitnh Wright, president of the , says attractionxs are sweetening discounts this summer and focusing onthe drive-inb market. “Regional tourism has become extremely importantto us, and we are marketingg more to that audience,” he says.
Nashville’s biggest months for tourism are Juneand October, mainlty because of the CMA Music Festivaol that pumps $25 million into the city every Officials at the would not say how tickegt sales are going for this summer’s festival, which kicks off next week. Octobeer is a popular convention montg because of thefall weather. Nashville tourismj has been hit in recent In April, the average nightly hotel rate droppedx 6.3 percent to $92.85 from $99.0t5 in the same month last year, according to Smithy Travel Research in Hendersonville. Hotelo occupancy plunged 15 percent in Aprilto 56.9 percent, down from 67 percenty a year ago.
Revenue per availablde room, a key metricc for hoteliers, was down 20.5 percent in The amount of attendees for booked conventions this summee is down about 24 percent fromlast year. Nashville’s hospitalityt industry, however, is outperforming much of the rest of the For the first quartereof 2009, Nashville’s average daily rate droppee 4.5 percent. Only five cities did better, and 19 of the top 25 markets did worse. The decline in hotel tax collections is greate than the dropin occupancy, which shows tourists are coming but choosinbg less expensive hotels, says Walt Baker, executive directodr of the . Nashville’s hotek occupancy dropped 11.
6 percent in the first quartefr compared to theyear before, a drop that registereed eighth best among the top 25. Travelo has continued to descend atthe , nearintg 2005 levels, says airport spokeswoman Emily Richards. Passenger countss were down 9.5 percent in April as comparedd to theyear before, and down 9.3 percent in the first four monthds of the year.