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A slew of vibrant attractions, a booming bourbon scene, the construction of new hotels, robust demand for the Northern Kentucky Convention Center and the continued growth of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport have firmly placed tourism as a major driver of employment, investment and visitor spending.

Tourism in Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati is a financial powerhouse, generating more than $5 billion of economic impact and supporting more than 77,000 jobs. Last year, direct visitor spending jumped to $450 million. And every dollar spent on tourism marketing generated $23.52 in return.

In addition to the local impact, Northern Kentucky has emerged as a statewide tourism juggernaut, representing 20 percent of the state’s tourism industry.



Boosting our region’s tourism is a number of exciting and inviting attractions.

Northern Kentucky’s group tour business, led by the faith-based attractions The Creation Museum in Boone County and the Ark Encounter in nearby Grant County, continues to attract visitors to the region in 2018. And those visitors spend their time and dollars elsewhere in the community.

Alan Bernstein of BB Riverboats in Newport estimates that as much as 20 percent of the cruise line’s business comes from people who came to Northern Kentucky to visit the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.

As bourbon tourism continues to boom, the award-winning B-Line – Northern Kentucky’s bourbon tour – has helped entrench the region as the northern edge of Bourbon Country and has been the catalyst for the opening and planning of new bars, restaurants and distilleries. There is even a newly opened bourbon kiosk at the airport.

Along the banks of the Ohio River, planned new investments at Newport on the Levee, including the exciting SkyWheel, guarantees that tourists will continue to flock to our riverfront for years to come.

One of the summer’s biggest tourism draws returns to Northern Kentucky July 11-13 with the NASCAR tripleheader weekend capped by the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

Those attractions are helping fill Northern Kentucky hotels while spurring the development of new hotels from Newport to Florence.

In 2018, hotel occupancy in Northern Kentucky hit a record high, with demand growing by 7.5 percent over 2017. Not only did local occupancy beat the national average of 66.2 percent, but 2018 marked the second consecutive year that occupancy exceeded 70 percent. Tour and travel groups alone brought more than 18,000 room nights to the region last year.

Demand for Northern Kentucky showcases the strength of our destination’s offerings as part of an exciting and inviting region. Higher occupancy translates to higher demand and provides growing room revenues for hotels.

That pie continues to grow. Since the Hotel Covington opened in 2016, six additional hotels have opened including the Aloft at Newport on the Levee, Hampton Inn & Suites in Newport and the Home 2 Suites by Hilton in Florence. And two of our major hotels – The Cincinnati Hilton Airport in Florence and the Cincinnati Marriott Hotel in Boone County – have been rejuvenated through major renovations.

The surge in hotel development is continuing from Newport – where a new Hilton property has been announced for the World Peace Bell site – to Florence, where seven hotels are either under construction or in various stages of planning.

The consistent investment shows that hotel owners and operators sense the long-term stability of demand and occupancy in Northern Kentucky.

Looking to the future, meetNKY is working closely with the 20-year-old Northern Kentucky Convention Center on a feasibility study for expanding the center. meetNKY is also working with the City of Covington, which has launched a study of developing the adjacent Internal Revenue Service center that is scheduled to close.

This is an exciting time for our destination and exciting time to be a visitor to Northern Kentucky and we are committed to keeping the momentum going this summer, throughout the rest of 2019 and well into the future.

Tim Bray is chairman of the meetNKY/Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Kentucky Speedway director of communications.