Eastern Tennessee
At the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg is a quaint town with everything a planner needs for a successful event, according to Dave Esslinger, vice president of sales and marketing for Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). “We have a beautiful, state-of-the-art convention center, more than 17,000 sleeping rooms, including full-service and limited-service hotels, cabins and condominiums, and hundreds of shops, restaurants, and entertainment attractions, including live performances for every age and interest.”
The pedestrian-friendly downtown features the new 136-room Hotel Indigo Gatlinburg Downtown, with a 155-person-capacity meeting room, a 3,744-square-foot outdoor terrace, and a rooftop bar and lounge.
Gatlinburg Convention Center features a 67,000-square-foot exhibit space, a ballroom seating 2,100 people theater style, and the 8,800-square-foot Mills Auditorium. The Gatlinburg Trolley connects the convention center to most downtown hotels, attractions, and restaurants.
Hotels with event space include the 300-room Park Vista, a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, with 25,000 square feet of indoor event space plus an event lawn; 164-suite Embassy Suites by Hilton Gatlinburg Resort, with 12,800 square feet of flexible meeting space; 215-room Glenstone Lodge, with 10,000 square feet of meeting space; 205-room Edgewater at the Aquarium, Hotel & Conference Center, with 7,000 square feet of function space, including a 4,800-square-foot ballroom; and 162-room Margaritaville Resort Gatlinburg, with 6,200 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. Also, the recently renovated 130-room Black Bear Inn & Suites has event space for 250 guests; the 118-room Hilton Garden Inn Gatlinburg has 1,599 square feet of function space; and Courtyard Gatlinburg Downtown has four event rooms.
Anakeesta mountain-top adventure park has introduced new gathering spaces at Firefly Village, a new treetop skywalk, and 56 new glass-walled gondolas with 360-degree views of the mountains.
Popular attractions include Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, and Ober Gatlinburg Adventure Park, with seasonal skiing and summer activities. Additional outdoor attractions include whitewater rafting, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and ziplining.
