The momentum continues: Pulaski County breaks another tourism spending record at $152.7 million

Visitors’ investment in The Capital of Lake Cumberland supports more than 1,100 jobs while generating $11.1 million in state and local tax revenue

Vis­i­tors spent $152.7 mil­lion in Pulas­ki Coun­ty in 2025, set­ting yet anoth­er record and under­scor­ing the val­ue of tourism to this grow­ing lake com­mu­ni­ty.

This is the fifth time in the last sev­en years that the tourism spend­ing record has been topped in The Cap­i­tal of Lake Cum­ber­land, an incred­i­ble tes­ta­ment to the work being done by hos­pi­tal­i­ty part­ners, attrac­tions, event orga­niz­ers and tourism stake­hold­ers to fuel the local econ­o­my, said Michelle Allen, exec­u­tive direc­tor of Lake Cum­ber­land Tourism, the des­ti­na­tion mar­ket­ing orga­ni­za­tion for Pulas­ki Coun­ty.

“Tourism con­tin­ues to be one of Pulas­ki County’s most impor­tant eco­nom­ic dri­vers, and these num­bers demon­strate the real impact vis­i­tors have on our com­mu­ni­ty,” Allen said. “Every dol­lar spent by a vis­i­tor helps low­er tax costs for res­i­dents, sup­ports local busi­ness­es, cre­ates jobs and helps strength­en the qual­i­ty of life our peo­ple enjoy.”

Accord­ing to new eco­nom­ic impact research con­duct­ed by Tourism Eco­nom­ics and released by the Ken­tucky Depart­ment of Tourism, tourism in Pulas­ki Coun­ty sup­port­ed 1,133 jobs, gen­er­at­ed $31.5 mil­lion in labor income and pro­duced $11.1 mil­lion in state and local tax rev­enue in 2025. The county’s tourism spend­ing record was part of a his­toric year for Ken­tucky tourism over­all, with vis­i­tors spend­ing a record $14.6 bil­lion statewide. Tourism sup­port­ed near­ly 97,000 jobs across the Com­mon­wealth and gen­er­at­ed more than $1.1 bil­lion in state and local tax rev­enue.

The record-set­ting year reflects con­tin­ued inter­est in Som­er­set-Pulas­ki Coun­ty as a des­ti­na­tion for out­door recre­ation, lake vaca­tions, sport­ing events, fes­ti­vals, enter­tain­ment, culi­nary expe­ri­ences, and soon, bour­bon. The community’s diverse offer­ings con­tin­ue to attract vis­i­tors from through­out Ken­tucky and across the coun­try.

“None of this hap­pens by acci­dent,” said Leslie Ikerd, direc­tor of See Som­er­set Tourism, the City of Somerset’s tourism agency that focus­es on down­town as well as busi­ness­es and attrac­tions in the city. “It takes inten­tion­al invest­ment, strong part­ner­ships and a com­mu­ni­ty com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing mem­o­rable expe­ri­ences for vis­i­tors. We are so blessed to have that in Som­er­set and Pulas­ki Coun­ty. This record demon­strates that peo­ple are choos­ing our com­mu­ni­ty for their vaca­tions, week­end get­aways and spe­cial events, and that’s a direct reflec­tion of the col­lab­o­ra­tion we have had in build­ing a des­ti­na­tion.”

Burn­side Tourism Direc­tor Aimee Mills said her com­mu­ni­ty is proud to be part of Pulas­ki County’s tourism suc­cess sto­ry.

“As the only city locat­ed direct­ly on Lake Cum­ber­land, we see first­hand the pos­i­tive impact vis­i­tors have on our busi­ness­es, work­force and com­mu­ni­ty,” Mills said. “The addi­tion of new busi­ness­es and con­tin­ued growth in events, recre­ation and lodg­ing is help­ing attract more vis­i­tors each year and strength­en the local econ­o­my. The suc­cess reflect­ed in these num­bers is the result of strong part­ner­ships between local busi­ness­es, com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions, vol­un­teers, city lead­er­ship, and our tourism part­ners. We are excit­ed about the future and grate­ful for the vis­i­tors who con­tin­ue to make Burn­side a des­ti­na­tion of choice on Lake Cum­ber­land.”

As they pre­pare to host Lake Cum­ber­land 250, a com­mu­ni­ty-wide cel­e­bra­tion of America’s 250th birth­day, these tourism lead­ers say they are opti­mistic about the com­ing year. This sum­mer also marks the high­ly antic­i­pat­ed open­ing of Horse Sol­dier Farms Dis­tillery, a des­ti­na­tion expect­ed to attract vis­i­tors from across the nation and fur­ther strength­en the area’s tourism econ­o­my.

“There’s tremen­dous momen­tum sur­round­ing Som­er­set-Pulas­ki Coun­ty right now,” Allen said. “Between Lake Cum­ber­land 250, the open­ing of Horse Sol­dier Farms Dis­tillery and the many events and attrac­tions in Burn­side, Som­er­set and Pulas­ki Coun­ty that make this area spe­cial, we’re excit­ed about what 2026 has in store and the oppor­tu­ni­ties it cre­ates for our com­mu­ni­ty.”