Louisville joins Paris and Bangkok on prestigious tourism list

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Travel and Leisure, an influential international travel publication, included Louisville in its “50 Best Places to Travel in 2024.”

The publication’s website listed a handful of attractions as part of its decision to include Louisville with old world cities Paris, Bangkok and Istanbul.

“When you think about 20 editors with Travel and Leisure magazine, said here are some of the coolest places we think you should go to next year in the globe,” Louisville Tourism President Cleo Battle said. “This is not a, just talk about our brand nationally, this is our brand globally. And that’s exciting.”

The 60-room Myriad Hotel in the Highlands was among two boutique Louisville hotels also mentioned as reasons to visit Louisville.

“I think just the anticipation of Derby coming up, it, being in Travel (and) Leisure, us being a new hotel spot with all the buzz, our team is ready,” Myriad General Manager Draek Shepard said. “I think we’re going to smash it.”

It is a jolt of adrenaline for Louisville tourism as well, with 2023 breaking pre-pandemic tourism records and 2024 now takes expectations even higher for the usual attractions of bourbon, bats and Muhammad Ali. “You add that foundation,” Battle said, “and then you say then on top of that we have Derby 150, and we’ve got the PGA championship, we’ve got an Ali musical coming. So just good momentum.”

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