DESTINATIONS TENNESSEE | THE US
Magic p
of Memphis
With Elvis tours booming thanks to a new film about the King, Stuart Forster explores this Tennessee city’s musical legacy
eople were coming from all over. They were different ages and from different backgrounds. It was exciting,” recalls Jack Soden, chief executive of Elvis Presley Enterprises, of Graceland in the summer
of 1982. Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion had just opened to the public, five years after his death. Forty years on, more than 23 million people have visited. And, with the release last month of Elvis, Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic about the King, trade bookings for Elvis tours are booming too. Since the film’s release, Newmarket Holidays has
reported a 200% increase in agent sales for its group guided tours taking in Elvis Presley spots in Memphis, Nashville and New Orleans – marking an all-time high.
ELVIS FEVER Richard Harrington, Newmarket Holidays product director, says: “Our Elvis tours have always been big sellers, but this year has been the best yet. Excitement around the movie has fuelled interest, and we expect it to get even bigger as Elvis fever takes off.”
At Graceland, fans can see the bedroom Elvis slept in – complete with vibrant purple drapes – and the basement television room where the superstar relaxed, watching American football on three screens. They can also explore the pool room, with its colourful fabric-lined walls, then
It’s better for the Elvis legacy
and better for Memphis tourism for us to be part of a fabric of different musical threads
climb towards the jungle room. This kitsch-yet-comfy room, which Elvis referred to as his den, is where he made his album recordings. “It’s pretty much in keeping with exactly the way
Graceland was when Elvis died,” Jack says of the building, which was built in 1939 and designated a national historic landmark in 2006.²
travelweekly.co.uk 7 JULY 2022 39
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