Travel Officials Optimistic About Summer Season

The Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge has a new ride that park namesake Dolly Parton is "plain scared" to ride.

In Nashville, famed for records and rhinestones, the raucous downtown honkytonks are prepared to serve cold beer and hot songs.

But with gasoline flirting at $4 a gallon, will tourists come this summer?

Tennessee boasts of being within a day's drive of 65 percent of the U.S. population. The state has no beaches like Florida, few museums like Washington, D.C., and no casinos like Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, tourism officials are optimistic Tennessee's convenient location will pay off in travel dollars during the key vacation months that unofficially begin Memorial Day weekend.

"We see people coming here who could have gone on further," said Kim Davis, spokeswoman for the Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corp.

"Gas is just gas," said Steve Smith, owner of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in Nashville. "People won't stay home."