GLASGOW, Ky. — Barren County held onto its place as one of Kentucky’s top tourism destinations in 2025, with visitors spending an estimated $117.5 million despite a year marked by flooding, National Park Service disruptions and other challenges.

According to the annual economic impact study, Barren County ranked 18th among Kentucky’s 120 counties for visitor spending.

Tourism supported 930 local jobs, generated $24.9 million in labor income and produced $9.5 million in state and local tax revenue.

While the county’s visitor spending was about 1% lower than in 2024, Glasgow-Barren County Tourism Executive Director MacLean Lessenberry said the change is effectively flat when the study’s margin of error is considered.

“Taking the study's margin of error into account, visitor spending essentially remained steady from 2024 to 2025, with a technical decrease of about 1%, while maintaining our 18th-place ranking statewide,” she said.

She said several factors made 2025 a difficult year for tourism, including National Park Service closures and significant flooding at Barren River Lake.

“2025 was a challenging year with National Park Service closures, extreme flooding of Barren River Lake, and other external factors,” she said.

Even so, she pointed to several bright spots that helped support the local tourism economy, including the Caveland Marketing Association’s response to a National Park System shutdown during the busy fall break season, the filming of an Aaron Eckhart feature film throughout Barren County, new locally owned businesses such as Highland Social, a surprise Tyler Childers concert at Dinosaur World, multiple “Best in Kentucky” recognitions for the area and a strong Small Business Saturday.

The report estimates tourism supported 930 jobs in Barren County. Of those, 746 were direct tourism jobs, while the remaining positions were supported indirectly through tourism-related economic activity.

Looking ahead, the tourism commission plans to continue expanding its marketing efforts in 2026.

Those plans include working with the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, increasing earned media coverage, expanding marketing for Mammoth Cave National Park, strengthening visitation during the shoulder seasons and hosting journalists, media representatives and content creators to showcase the region.

The county has also seen substantial long-term growth in tourism spending. In 2018, visitors spent $98.5 million in Barren County. That figure has increased by roughly $19 million, or more than 19%, over the past seven years.

“We are extremely proud that we have increased visitor spending by around $19 million, or over 19%, since,” she said.