Louisville’s Great Gatsby Theme Earns Kentucky Travel Industry’s Award of Distinction
Louisville Tourism won several Gold, Silver and Bronze awards
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 10, 2025) – Louisville Tourism received top recognition for its innovative PR and marketing campaigns celebrating the 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. At the Kentucky Travel Industry Association’s (KTIA) annual conference, the destination marketing organization was honored with a prestigious Award of Distinction and a Gold Traverse Award for the creative execution of Louisville’s Great Gatsby Centennial Celebrations, alongside nine additional awards across multiple categories.
Louisville Tourism also captured a Gold Award for a visually stunning website showcasing Louisville’s unique charm to drive qualified traffic through a targeted digital advertising campaign within Expedia’s network. The primary goal of the campaign was to drive bookings and revenue for Louisville hotels using the booking engine.
KTIA awarded a Silver Award to the destination marketing organization for the seasonal LouGrass Sessions, a celebration of Kentucky roots music. LouGrass blends Bluegrass with Americana, blues, jazz, and more— offering free live seasonal performances across Louisville’s venues to give locals and visitors the opportunity to experience authentic sounds in Bourbon City.
Donna Spalding, Visitor Experience Representative for Louisville Tourism, was honored with a Stars of the Industry Award celebrating her exceptional contributions as a frontline professional, a vital role in advancing the success of Louisville and Kentucky’s hospitality industry.
Louisville Tourism received 11 Traverse Awards, which honors Kentucky travel professionals for their talents, creativity and effectiveness in marketing and public relations. The travel conference was held November 5-7 in Louisville and was attended by hundreds of tourism leaders from across Kentucky.
Kentucky travel and tourism businesses and marketing organizations vie for Traverse Awards in 12 categories. The Traverse Awards are judged by a panel of out-of-state travel and tourism industry experts. Award criteria include concept, creativity, results and impact.