Fun Facts About Louisville

• Tourism is the State’s second largest private employer
• Tourism is the third largest service industry in Jefferson County
• Tourism is the third largest revenue-producing industry in Kentucky
• Sales tax collected in Kentucky is 6%.
• Louisville has the 5^th busiest cargo airport in the United States
• There are 12 carriers that the Louisville International Airport offers
• Hotel occupancy tax collected in Jefferson County is 15.01%
• Louisville has the 10^th busiest airport in the world
• There is an average of 100 daily departures from Louisville International Airport
• There is 386 square miles in the Louisville Metro area
  26,000 jobs are supported by the tourism industry in Jefferson County
• Population of Louisville metropolitan statistical area in 2000 was 1,025,598
• Tourism generates $200 million in state and local taxes annually
  Economic impact of direct visitor spending in Jefferson County is $1.1 billion 
• There are 1,300 animals at the 134-acre Louisville Zoo
• There are 220 acres of exposed, Devonian age fossil beds (located at the Falls of the Ohio State Park)
• The largest collection of Victorian homes in the United State and the 3^rd largest historically preserved district in the United States is located in Old Louisville
• American Printing House for the Blind is the largest printer of Braille material in the world
• 17 tons of Kentucky limestone makes up the baseball glove inside the Louisville Slugger Museum
• 24 feet of “full pipe” was used at the 40,000 square foot Louisville Extreme Park
• 85 acres comprise Louisville’s Waterfront Park
• 90% of the United States’ disco balls are produced in Louisville each year
• 95% of the world’s bourbon is produced in Kentucky
• There are 300 pieces from the Royal Armouries in Great Britain on display at the Frazier International History Museum
• Louisville consumes 981 total miles of the Ohio River
• The Belle of Louisville is the oldest operating Mississippi-style sternwheeler steamboat in existence
• There are 2,500 restaurants in Louisville
• The replica of Babe Ruth’s 34-inch Louisville Slugger bat weighs 68,000 pounds, is made of steel, stands 120 feet tall and is located at Louisville Slugger Museum
• 60 tons of firework shells used each year at Thunder Over Louisville, North America’s largest annual pyrotechnics show
• There are 554 roses used in the garland of roses presented to the winner of the Kentucky Derby
• 100,000 Mint Juleps are poured during the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks