Kentucky Bourbon Trail Set New Record In 2024

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail marked its 25th anniversary last year with some good numbers: attractions on the trail were visited by a record 2.7 million visitors in 2024. Visitors came from all 50 states and more than 20 countries across six continents poured into the Bluegrass State last year, up from 2.5 million tourists in 2023 – the third straight year topping the two million mark. More than three-quarters of all visitors came from outside the state.

“The combination of American history, picturesque scenery and legendary Kentucky hospitality continues to attract people from all over the world to get a deeper look into what makes our Bourbon family so special,” said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

When the trail was first started in 1999, there were only seven distilleries listed on it, all of them “Kentucky Majors” (big distillers). Now, with 60 participating distilleries, both large and small and in all corners of the Commonwealth, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail program encourages guests to slow down, relax, savor the journey and come back for another round.

The good news will be lucky to be repeated in 2025. News of the Trump administration’s harassment of legally visiting tourists and proper permanent residents has chilled the tourist environment, with large numbers of cancellations of trips (as evidenced by flight, hotel and rental car receipts) already in evidence. Based upon the sharp reversal in numbers, tourism trade groups have changed their predictions from a +5% tourism growth to a -9% tourism decline in 2025.

Worse, despite its popular Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, Kentucky is best known as a “Red State” that is firmly in the Southern, Republican camp. Much of the political backlash in other countries has been aimed at boycotting Red States, making it even less likely that the tourists that do come to the US will make a point of coming to Kentucky.