Tagged: tourism

Texas’ official motto is “friendship.” And the state’s long drawn on its welcoming ways to attract tourism and convention crowds from all over.

One example of Texas hospitality is its event trust funds: the Major Events Trust Fund and the Events Trust Fund. (And that’s not counting the Motor Sports Events Trust Fund and the Special Events Trust Fund.)

For years now, Mexico has been going through turbulent times. Violence between the drug cartels and the Mexican Army is a daily occurrence in some places. But the country’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, is set on repairing Mexico’s image and even restoring peace. That’s welcome news for border towns in Mexico -- and Texas.

Don’t expect Austin tourism officials to drop the “Live Music Capitol of the World” moniker anytime soon.

A new survey indicates music is still the number one magnet luring tourists to the city.

More than 77 percent of respondents said they “Strongly Agree” that Austin is a destination to enjoy live music, the most positive response of any category. If you include those who “Agree”, the number leaps to 94.2 percent.

After two years of declines, Austin-area tourism rebounded last year to pre-recession levels. That’s according to a new report from the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. The report says 19.8 million people visited the Austin-Round Rock metro area in 2010 (including both day and overnight trips). 

A web short highlighting Wurstfest, a New Braunfels attraction that reels in 120,000 tourists a year. Video by Axel Gerdau.

In a city perhaps best known for its summer recreation and once-a-year “ten day salute to sausage”, New Braunfels is trying to capitalize on its German heritage to bring in tourists year round.

“We are a destination in the summer for Schlitterbahn and the river, and people know about Wurstfest,” New Braunfels Mayor Gale Pospisil told KUT News. “But we have a great deal of German heritage here, and one of the things we’ve been working on is trying to spread our tourism over the entire year.”

The mayor and City Council voted to waive $3.8 million in fees for White Lodging’s construction of a new convention center hotel in downtown Austin today.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell supports the construction of a convention center hotel as an effort to attract more tourism revenue. He says Austin’s convention center bookings have been declining because its capacity is too low. The mayor says he received interest in booking conventions as soon as rumors started circulating that Austin could expand its convention center space.