September 20, 2022
Compared to other hot cities throughout the Sun Belt like Charlotte, Austin, Nashville, and Dallas, DowntownFTL is ahead of the pack based on its August retail and tourism related foot traffic. With respect to tourism, DowntownFTL is experiencing a healthy mix of local and national visitors while other downtowns have yet to see renewed interests by visitors from drivable distances 50 to 150 miles away.
Retail Recovery
DowntownFTL, throughout the month of August, experienced retail foot traffic at a rate 108% of pre-pandemic levels. This is 8 percentage points above the retail foot traffic experienced in August 2019. Peer cities throughout the Sun Belt like Charlotte, Phoenix, Austin, Nashville, and Dallas are still experiencing retail foot traffic below pre-pandemic levels. This signals that DowntownFTL's strong retail recovery is an outlier among other hot Sun Belt cities.
Tourism Recovery
With respect to tourism, DowntownFTL is also leading the way. In August, DowntownFTL saw tourist visits at rate 158% of pre-pandemic levels. This is 58 percentage points above the tourism foot traffic experienced in August 2019. Cities like Charlotte have fully recovered their visitation levels. However, Austin, Dallas, and Nashville performed below pre-pandemic levels.
DowntownFTL' strong tourism recovery is being driven by a balanced mixed of local and national visitors. Places like DowntownFTL and Downtown Austin are attracting a balanced mix of local and national visitors compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, downtowns with weaker tourism recoveries like Dallas and Nashville have yet to see local tourism activity compared to 2019 levels.
