Convention business and tourism form one of the Nashville area's most important industries, launched primarily by the growth of country music and entertainment. One of the most versatile convention-oriented hotels in Nashville is the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, offering more than 600,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space. Its Ryman Exhibit Hall is the largest in-hotel exhibit facility in the world, at 289,000 square feet. The elegant, white-columned facility is located on 30 acres of rolling Tennessee countryside just 8 miles east of downtown Nashville. It is approximately five minutes from the airport and close to shopping, restaurants, and attractions, with the Grand Ole Opry House next door.
The Nashville Convention Center offers 118,675 square feet of meeting space, ballrooms, and 25 meeting rooms. The city's Municipal Auditorium seats more than 9,600 people. For conventions and trade shows, the exhibit floor contains 63,000 square feet of space. Gaylord Entertainment Center offers 49,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space. The Adelphia Coliseum offers a total of 200,000 square feet of space on the club levels for special events and functions; one side of the coliseum offers sweeping vistas of downtown Nashville. Parts of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Tennessee State Fairgrounds are also available for sizable events.
Two miles west of the center city, the Loew's Vanderbilt Hotel rises next to Vanderbilt University in the middle of one of Nashville's busiest areas of commercial office development. Promoting itself as an "executive-class" hotel, the Vanderbilt has more than 24,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.
Convention Information: Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, 211 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN 37201; telephone (615)259-4730