Tennessee tourism faces challenging summer

Tennessee faces a challenging summer tourism season in the aftermath of extensive flooding in Nashville and questions about the economy.
With the unofficial start of summer travel on Memorial Day weekend, tourism officials hope potential vacationers set aside worries about their next paycheck and images of Nashville under water.
Tourism is big business in the state. According to the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, the state has up to 50 million visitors annually. Tennessee is within a day’s drive of 65 percent of the U.S. population.
Nashville is trying to overcome the perception left by television news video of Nashville being submerged.
The Smoky Mountains area doesn’t have that obstacle, just concerns about whether people have the money to travel.