LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Editor's Note: Above video originally aired on Jan. 30, 2024.
Louisville's tourism industry is coming off a record-breaking year as it looks forward to what's to come in the new year.
Home to the Kentucky Derby and bourbon, Louisville was recently named one of the top travel destinations in 2024. The city was also named the number one summer travel destination in 2023 on Airbnb.
In 2023, Louisville also continued its nine-year streak of receiving a perfect score from the Human Rights Campaign and named one of the top "52 Places to Go" by the New York Times.
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According to officials, several of Louisville's tourism-centric organizations also saw exponential growth in 2023 including:
- Kentucky Derby Museum set an all-time attendance record with more than 250,000 guests.
- Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory recorded two new single-day attendance records, the highest being during the Beta Club National Convention in June with nearly 3,800 guests.
- Louder than Life welcomed over 163,00 fans during the four-day festival, the most in the festival's history!
- Muhammad Ali International Airport had its busiest year with more than 4.6 million total passengers.
- The Urban Bourbon Experience hosted more than 572,000 visitors across all 11 distilleries.
- KFC Yum! Center hosted the three largest-selling performances of North American arena tours for three national acts.
On Thursday, Louisville Tourism also celebrated the "spirited renaissance" of bourbon-themed hotels, festivals, restaurants, and more than a dozen new distilleries and attractions across the Metro.
The city is looking forward to continued momentum going into 2024 with more new hotels, distilleries and experiences expected to open this year.
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