On 4 July 2021, the Tennessee Department of Tourism Development launched Gov. Bill Lee's "Tennessee on Me" campaign with a YouTube video featuring the governor and country entertainer Brad Paisley.
The campaign's proposition as put to potential tourists was:
- Book a prepaid, non-refundable stay of at least 2 nights - at least one between Sunday and Wednesday - at participating hotels in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga or Knoxville
- Fly to the destination city on Delta, American or Southwest using one of 10,000 available, free $250 vouchers provided by the State of Tennessee
Altogether the state spent $1,034,998 on the airline vouchers, marketing, Instagram influencers and production of the governor's YouTube video. (Brad Paisley donated his time.)
The campaign ended 31 December 2021.
End result was: 2,292 vouchers claimed, costing TN taxpayers an average of $451.57 each.
Visit Knoxville President Kim Bumpas - whose city got 523 visitors - said she views the promotion as a success:
"Whether people participated in the program or not, they saw it, they engaged with it and it really told them why they might want to travel to Tennessee another time.This program will pay off for years to come in ways that can't be tracked."