Bowling Green Convention & Visitors Bureau Celebrates a Supercharged 2024

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Jan. 2, 2025) – 2024 proved to be another standout year for the Bowling Green Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit BGKY). The bureau continued to help shape marketing and promotional efforts geared to attract new and repeat visitors to the third-largest city in Kentucky while also making strides for the future of tourism in the city and county.

“Based on forecast models and historical patterns, the travel industry will continue to heat and cool in the years to come, but we’re very proud of our 2024 efforts,” said Sherry Murphy, executive director for Visit BGKY. “We checked a lot of boxes this year, several of which are big ones to cross off the list. We did so all in the name of providing our visitors with a unique Kentucky experience, and we strongly believe the efforts from our attraction partners, hoteliers, eateries and event managers made all the difference in that success.”

One of the largest milestones of the year includes the commencement of the state’s ARPA funds designated by Governor Beshear, the Kentucky General Assembly and the Kentucky Department of Tourism in 2022. The funding helped the tourism industry recover after the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately helped put millions back into the economy. A portion of these funds positioned Bowling Green in multi-jurisdictional projects, which helped Bowling Green collaborate with other destinations across the Commonwealth. Bowling Green participated in the most jurisdictional projects of any city in the state – 16 total projects. In fact, four of the 16 originated out of the Visit BGKY office including the Bluegrass Train Experience and the Western Kentucky Wine Trail. Most will end with 2024; however, the most successful ones will continue. Overall, the funding provided Visit BGKY with more than $1,000,000 to help creatively position the city and county to prospective travelers.

Due to these funds, Visit BGKY received the most awards ever offered to the bureau during the 2024 Kentucky Travel Industry Association (KTIA) conference in the fall of 2024. Visit BGKY earned one gold, eight silver, and 10 bronze awards for projects related to tourism. Most notably, Visit BGKY’s executive director Sherry Murphy received the prestigious Mangeot-Oaken Distinguished Service Award - the highest honor recognized in the tourism industry.

Cruising onward, in 2024 Bowling Green also celebrated two large-scale motorsports events that brought thousands to the city and county – the Hot Rods Power Tour and Corvette Caravan which also coincided with the 30th Anniversary celebration of the National Corvette Museum. Both events appealed to motorheads while bringing new and cyclical visitors back to the area to enjoy our attractions, eateries and hotels.

Finally, one of the more exciting announcements and projects to look forward to in 2025 is the unveiling of the new Bowling Green Convention & Visitors Bureau office off exit 26 on Cemetery Road, announced earlier this year. The move and expansion punctuate the historic success of the bureau in the last several years while also teasing the promising efforts to come.