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Home > Media > Facts about Louisville

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%.Downtown
  • Louisville has the 5th 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 10th 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 ZooTiger
  • 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 3rd 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 LouisvilleFireworks 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