Five years later and Gatlinburg City’s bright idea is paying off. The city for it ‘Gatlinburg Winter Magic’ lights program for the 2008-09 season made a full switch to LED bulbs from incandescent. They have hit a new milestone, after making the $180,000 switch and saw significant savings up front.

Public Relations manager for the Gatlinburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Marci Claude said, "About five years we made the switch over, and that's about how long it's taken to recuperate the cost from switching from incandescent bulbs to LED bulbs.” Some results have been seen almost immediately, with Claude adding, "Previously, all the light fixtures had been set up with 5 watt incandescent bulbs which were very labour intensive in terms of maintenance, care, and replacement. So when we made the switch to LED lights, we cut way back on all of that."

In a five month period during the first year, the savings were 75% and that was with a rate increase from TVA of about 14%. This conversion has enabled the city to be lit over the 4 month period of the winter program at a third of the cost it used to be with the incandescent lightsinstalled. At the moment the city is focusing on new ways to make the light show better.

Visitors of the city are now able to take their own self guided tours, due to the city recently launching the ‘Gatlinburg Interactive Tours’ app. The app has a list of the different light displays available and how to get to them.

"It just makes our city that much more festive and by having that app, it makes it just that much more accessible to our visitors as they're here," Claude said.

The app is currently only available on iPhones and is free to download, however there is an Android version in the process of development. The lights can also be enjoyed by visitors through the Gatlinburg Winter Magic Trolley Ride of Lights. Light will stay lit until the end of February.