Elvis Lives On…Even In A Recession

By Jim on January 8th, 2009

The King is still doing great business even in a recession:

Unlike Chrysler and General Motors, Elvis Presley, who would be celebrating his 74th birthday Thursday, is running smoothly.

Robert Sillerman, chief executive of CKX Inc., the parent company of Elvis Presley Enterprises, said Tuesday that Graceland weathered high gasoline prices during the summer with little effect and is moving ahead with plans to transform itself into an even bigger tourist attraction.

“There is only one Elvis, and you don’t have to do much to keep him front and center,” said Sillerman, who said President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural committee has contacted CKX to ask about using the Elvis song “If I Can Dream” as part of an inaugural event. “I am a big supporter of President Obama. If they want to use it, we absolutely will make it available to them. Forty years after Elvis’ ’68 special, we see that he’s being thought of as part of a new beginning.”

Elvis drew an estimated 600,000 visitors for the 30th anniversary of his death in 2007 and was No. 1 on Forbes’ list of top-earning dead celebrities in 2008.

Visitors to Graceland were down in 2008 with gasoline in the $4-a-gallon range, but CKX spokesman Ed Tagliaferri said 2008 compared well with previous years when Graceland wasn’t celebrating a milestone anniversary. The first three quarters of 2008 were down only one percent from the first three quarters of 2006, Tagliaferri said.

During those same quarters, per capita spending by Elvis visitors rose 14 percent from 2006 to 2008, Sillerman said.

“We were scratching our heads about that. We frankly thought with the high gas prices, when visitors got there they would spend less money.”