Market Segments
in Downtown Memphis . . .
Hospitality
Office
Residential
Retail
View a list of Available Hotel
Properties in the CBID.
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market segment: hospitality
Millions of tourists visit Downtown Memphis each year. On average, each tourist spends $191, generating community-wide revenues of $1.25 billion and local and state tax revenues of $75 million.
It's obvious that tourism is a key part of Downtown Memphis' development picture. And with the numbers of tourists ever increasing, a demand for new hotel rooms, convention space, and retail offerings has resulted.
Downtown currently has 17 hotels with more than 2,700 rooms. In 2000, those hotels had the highest Average Daily Rate in the state at $107.96, which reflects an increase of 4 percent over 1999. Projected demand for new hotel rooms has resulted in several new properties now under construction. Development options are still available.
Successful Meeting magazine recently recognized Memphis as one of the top 10 convention destinations in the country, thanks in part to the $85 million expansion of the Memphis Cook Convention Center. The expanded facility offers 150,000 square feet of unobstructed convention space, a new 35,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a new 30,000-square-foot ballroom, and 30 breakout rooms.
Retail businesses are benefiting from the strong tourism industry with retail gross receipts exceeding $685 million in 1999. About 35 percent of the retail businesses are food and beverage related, averaging $130 million in gross sales. Beale Street stores that are part of national chains are some of the highest grossing units in the country.
Major Points of Interest in the Tourism Market
Beale Street, Tennessee's top tourist attraction, with more than 2 million visitors
Peabody Entertainment and Retail Center, a 300,000-square-foot urban entertainment center, anchored by a 22-screen movie theater
Gibson Guitar Plant/ Rock 'N' Soul Museum, which receives 140,000 visitors yearly
AutoZone Park, a 14,000-seat AAA ballpark that sets attendance records every season
National Civil Rights Museum, which attracts 120,000 visitors each year
Mississippi Riverboats, which draw 120,000 visitors each year
Pyramid Arena, a 21,000-seat venue attracting more than 750,000 each year
Orpheum Theatre, a 2,300-seat theater that is the most heavily ticketed off-Broadway venue in the country
Mud Island Park, which attracts 173,000 visitors annually
Memphis in May, a month-long international festival on the river drawing more than 250,000 yearly
National Ornamental Metal Museum, a one-of-a-kind museum and working blacksmith shop that attracts visitors from around the world
WONDERS: The Memphis International Cultural Series, which has brought millions of people into Downtown to view such exhibits as Ramesses the Great, Napoleon, Splendors of the Ottoman Empire, Titanic, Imperial Tombs of China, Eternal Egypt, and Czars: 300 Years of Grandeur.
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