Northern Kentucky tourism back to pre-pandemic levels

COVINGTON, Ky. (WKRC) – MeetNKY is seeing record-breaking tourism numbers in Northern Kentucky.

The numbers for 2023 were revealed during the group’s annual meeting.

MeetNKY, which is Northern Kentucky's tourism and convention services bureau, says that tourism recovered to 2019’s pre-pandemic levels last year, a full two years before it was anticipated.

Hotel occupancy rose by 1.3%, meaning that hotel occupancy was at more than 68% last year.

The bureau credits the boost to the region to the many festivals and events planned, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour weekend, and the region’s many unique experiences it offers, such as The B-Line self-guided bourbon tour.

MeetNKY also says it saw a 25% growth in tourism to all seven Northern Kentucky bourbon distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

The bureau says its partnership with CVG Airport to offer daily, direct flights to domestic and international destinations has been crucial to visitor growth, and there are plans in the works to expand those services.

Amanda Johannemann of meetNKY says immediately following the COVID-19 shutdown, the bureau worked to find ways to restore tourism.

Part of its goal was to re-market Northern Kentucky as part of the Cincinnati region.

"Coming out of COVID, there was a big shift in the way we're marketing this destination as the Cincy region, and it's a unique place where you can visit two states on one trip, so I think that was a huge piece just kind of showing that we could be nimble and innovative in the years following the pandemic and we'll continue to market this as a destination people really need to check out and explore,” said Johannemann.

Johannemann says there are lots of events planned for this year and next to continue the positive momentum.