Visit Clarksville: tourism brought $419.5 million in direct spending in 2024, director says

Angie Brady, executive director of Visit Clarksville, presented the commission with visitor and economic-impact figures and framed tourism as an economic-development engine for Montgomery County.

Brady said the county saw an estimated 1.8–2.0 million visitors in calendar-year 2025 (estimate provided by Visit Clarksville) and that 74% of those visitors came from outside Tennessee. She reported $419,500,000 in direct visitor spending in 2024 and said about $16,100,000 in local taxes were collected from that spending. By Visit Clarksville’s calculations, roughly $8,000,000 of those tax dollars were apportioned to the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.

Brady emphasized longer stays generate more local economic benefit: hotel guests averaged 2.4 nights while short-term rentals averaged 5.4 nights. She listed top visitor destinations cited by Visit Clarksville, including Governor's Square Mall, Austin Peay State University and Liberty Park, and noted popular months for visitation.

Brady closed by urging elected officials to support tourism as a complement to traditional economic-development partners and described tourism as improving quality of life and local business opportunities.

Why it matters: The presentation quantifies tourism’s contribution to the county tax base and to the school system, providing data the commission can use to assess support for tourism-related investments.

Source: Visit Clarksville presentation to the Montgomery County Commission (Angie Brady).