Sullivan County tourism report
Explore Bristol / Visit Kingsport · Sullivan County TN — prepared for the county commission
Q2 2026
April – June
Visitor spending, trailing 12 months
$391.7M
up 7.1% over prior year
Occupancy tax collected, Q2 2026
$1.74M
up 8.9% over Q2 2025
What tourism saves each household
$338 / yr
in taxes, at current visitor levels
In plain terms
Visitors spent $392 million in Sullivan County over the past year, led by race weeks, downtown Bristol, and the lakes. That activity produced $1.74 million in occupancy tax this quarter and saves every county household an estimated $338 a year in taxes.
Density trend — dollars per resident
County: $2,481 per resident, up 7.4% — regional goal is closing the gap with Sevier County ($38,822)
Top marketing result this quarter
Race Week Regional Stay pilot — Charlotte/Knoxville: 6,240 tracked arrivals · 815 bookings · $2.1M tracked visitor spending.
Repeat visitation: 37% of visitors had been here before — up 2 points.
Regional context: 21.4% of our visitors also visited a neighboring Northeast Tennessee county on the same trip — up 1.8 points.
Sources: TN Dept. of Tourist Development, county trustee records, regional movement data. Methodology at /methods. Prototype: figures shown are illustrative sample data.
Intelligence by Xperistar