Elvis fans are coming out in droves to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the King’s first record. Memphis area hotel occupancy, a key barometer of tourism, was up 12 percent this year through April 30, outstripping a 3.3 percent increase nationally. Memphis hotel occupancy was up 11 percent through May, and June has been good, said Kevin Kane, president of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Texas-based National Baptist Convention of America had 4,500 people at its Family Faith Fest 2014 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center last week.

Living in Memphis during the summer can mean lots of tourists that come in to visit. A majority of advertising was recently spent in cities within easy reach by car or a short flight, such as Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham and Atlanta, and tourism from those areas is frequent and common. Graceland averages between 500,000 and 600,000 visitors annually. July is typically the busiest month of the year with Elvis Week allowing Memphis and Graceland to finish the summer months on a high note in August. Now, year round fans come to pay homage to Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins at Sun Studio where they all once recorded albums.