Checking In - South July 2010

June 14, 2010

Tyler Davidson

It wasn’t a good spring for some major Southern destinations, with the BP oil spill spreading out over the Gulf and water pouring over the banks of the Cumberland River into Nashville, and to a lesser extent, floods affecting metro Memphis.

We’ve been monitoring both situations (check out our news page for the latest updates), but the fact that Central and West Tennessee was already on the editorial calendar for the July issue allowed us to switch gears to bring you a timely report on how both of the aforementioned Volunteer State destinations were faring.

Although strictly from a tourism standpoint initial reports were a cause of great concern, Memphis seemed to be largely unaffected, and Nashville is quickly ramping back up after two of its primary facilities—The Grand Ole Opry on the attractions/performance venue side and Gaylord Opryland on the meetings and conventions side—were taken down, but at press time planned to be up and running between October and early November.

And while Gaylord Entertainment certainly has its hands full bringing back both of those properties, it’s known for doing things big, so you can bet on a second "Music City Miracle" by the end of the year.

Check out this issue for our report, and let’s hope for better news through the end of the year.

About the author

Tyler Davidson is the vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today, which publishes the meetings industry trade magazine Meetings Today as well as MeetingsToday.com, various newsletters, webinars, the in-person Meetings Today LIVE! Hosted-buyer events and other meetings and events industry B2B channels.

Tyler has covered the travel trade for nearly 35 years. In his role with Meetings Today, which recently won the prestigious FOLIO: Eddies Award for best magazine issue, Tyler leads the editorial team on its mission to provide the most in-depth meetings content in the industry. Previously, he worked as the Asia, Canada, Pacific Northwest and Western U.S. editor at Travel Weekly magazine and TravelAge West. Before joining the dual editorial staff producing destination sections for Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, Tyler was the Africa, Israel, Middle East, Switzerland and Pacific Northwest editor at TravelAge West. He also undertook general news and feature assignments while working at the magazines.

Besides reporting on the travel trade, Tyler has covered the real estate industry, held various editorial positions at the San Francisco-based national satire magazine The Nose, wrote freelance technology industry pieces and covered the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders for a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco. He has a B.A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University, where he worked in various editorial capacities on its award-winning student magazine, Prism.

Contact: tyler.davidson@meetingstoday.com