MACON, Ga. — It's been a big year for tourism in Macon!
Visit Macon's Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Aaron Buzza said there's been a lot of private and public development in the city this year.
"A lot of good things happening all one after another," Buzza said.
Buzza said he started at Visit Macon about six years ago.
"In that time, we've seen just as an example, sports tourism has grown from about a three million dollar economic impact each year to this year. We're expecting fourteen plus million dollars, of economic impact just from sports tourism alone," Buzza said.
He said a major reason for that is the world's largest indoor pickleball court that opened up in the Macon Mall this year.
They recently had an event that brought in about 700 visitors to the city, and they have another event in January that's expected to bring in even more people.
"And so we're talking there over the course of the year, millions of dollars in economic impact," Buzza said.
And if the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park gets national park accreditation from the National Park Service, Buzza said that would bring in even more money for the city.
"And that's just going to be a complete game changer I think for Macon. Bringing more, and more visitors to the community, by the hundreds of thousands, not just thousands," he said.
And once the new Macon Amphitheater opens up this spring, he said they expect millions of more dollars to benefit small and large businesses.
"Assuming a sold-out show, we're talking about three million dollars in economic impact from a show at the Macon Amphitheater," Buzza said.
The amphitheater's already announced some shows for next year, including Jason Aldean in October and the Turnpike Troubadours in April.