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27 more tour buses headed to Macon for the Cherry Blossom festival. Here's how businesses are preparing

In 2023, Macon saw only 12 for the festival. But now, that number has increased.

MACON, Ga. — Even if you don't attend this year's pink party, but you may still reap the benefits of Cherry Blossom Festival cash flowing into Central Georgia.

This year, the festival says you should see a whole lot more people spending the benjamin's.

Chrissy Lee Brown owns Parish and Fatty's Pizza on Cherry Street.

“I'm thinking about how many employees do we need to have on each shift, and now I'm thinking we need to rent trucks fridge trucks like we used to,” she said excitedly.

She's always pumped when springtime rolls around.

“This is our stock room of cherry blossom supplies and I know everything is in boxes but everything is full of pink,” Brown said taking us to a back room full of decorations.

The pink usually turns to green in the form of money coming in the door during the Cherry Blossom festival.

This year that number should jump up significantly. Aaron Buza is with Visit Macon.

“When you see an additional 1000 people coming from outside the county and outside of the state that adds to that dollar figure," he reasoned.

Here is how  Buzza from estimates the number of extra tourists.

In 2023, he says Macon saw 12 tour buses come to town for the festival. This year 39 have already committed to roll in.

Buzza says it's the most we've ever hosted.

The only year to come close was 2016, well before COVID, with 32 bus and van tours steering folks to our area.

Visit Macon put some miles on the odometer last year when they attended some big tour bus trade association shows that they didn't attend the previous years selling the cherry blossom and all the benefits of Macon.

“That gives us more of an opportunity to hit that 5.5 million dollars and exceed that five point five million,” Buzza calculated.

Buzza says he's conservative with his numbers.

Five point five million is his estimated economic impact from last year's Cherry Blossom festival. 

He says other cities like Milledgeville and Fort Valley saw tourists too.

“This is huge I don't think people understand how big of a deal this is this is huge not just for restaurants but for boutiques and shops and stores and hotels gas stations for everybody,” Brown projected.

Brown says this is like Christmas for her bottom line.. and her employees.

It could turn into a profitable spring a pink pop with a bountiful burst of bucks.

Buzza says Central Georgia is great for tour buses.

He says it's because many spots like the National Historic Park and St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral have plenty of space to load and unload people.

He also says the tour bus industry is seeing a resurgence after COVID-19 as people want to take a bus instead of driving themselves around.

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