MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As pandemic restrictions loosen, the tourism industry hopes to bounce back after a devastating year.
Downtown Memphis is bracing for the impact with a brand-new hotel, all in hopes to bring visitors back to the Bluff City.
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Hyatt Centric is the first hotel with a Beale Street address. It’s officially now open for visitors.
“It’s very encouraging to see tourism come back as rapidly as it is,” CEO of Memphis tourism Kevin Kane said.
As pandemic restrictions loosen, the social scene in Memphis is slowly returning.
“The latest directive to relax dancing at clubs is going to be a big boom, and we’re slowly but surely going back to normal,” Kane said.
In 2019, Kane said Memphis and Shelby County saw a record 13 million visitors. In 2020, that number dropped drastically to about 5 million.
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Kane said the numbers are finally starting to go back up.
“Hotel occupancy has been very strong, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A lot of that is leisure travel, and of course, our restaurants and entertainment establishments are starting to get busier,” he said.
The push comes just in time for the opening of downtown Memphis’s newest hotel: Hyatt Centric on Beale Street.
“As we grow hotels and hotel rooms in the city of Memphis, and especially exciting hotels, all it does is create a great stage for the city,” director of sales for the hotel Nicholas Jansek said.
With tourism picking back up, Kane said the challenge now is finding people to fill jobs within the industry.
He said they’re hosting a job fair at the convention center on May 4th.
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