Abbott touts influx of tourism dollars to Texas during visit to American Airlines HQ
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during the New Heights High School grand opening ceremony on Sept. 25, 2024. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GregAbbott_CamiloDiaz-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GregAbbott_CamiloDiaz-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Visit Texas and you’ll want to stay here.That’s the assertion of Gov. Greg Abbott, who credits tourism efforts as a significant contributor to the state’s population boom since more than 470,000 people moved to Texas last year.Abbott discussed tourism — and his favorite sports teams — on Oct. 15 during a fireside chat with Geoff Freeman, CEO and president of the U.S. Travel Association, at the headquarters of Fort Worth-based American Airlines. The visit was one of several Abbott has made to Fort Worth over the past month, including a ceremony for new state business court judges and a tour of a new charter school campus. Sporting a replica Texas Rangers World Series ring, Abbott said events such as Dallas Cowboys games, Austin City Limits and the State Fair of Texas attract tourists that boost air travel, hotel bookings and restaurant sales.More importantly, he said, tourism aids in business relocations.“Businesses don’t relocate without someone visiting first,” Abbott said. “People don’t buy a second home without visiting first. Travel is really that incubator of other spending that happens. You’ve seen a lot of that spending right here in Texas.”In 2023, visitors spent $94.8 billion in travel-related expenses and helped fuel 1.3 million jobs in the travel and hospitality industries. An event such as Austin City Limits, a two-week festival, generates half a billion dollars for the Austin economy, he said.Abbott pointed to the lifting of COVID-19 mandates as one of the reasons the Texas economy rebounded faster than other states in 2020, Abbott said.He cited the 2020 World Series, held at Globe Life Field in Arlington between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays — the first time the series was held in a venue without its host tenant. That same year, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association moved the 2020 National Finals Rodeo from Las Vegas to Globe Life Field because of Nevada’s health mandates.Abbott said the $270 million National Medal of Honor Museum, currently under construction in Arlington, will enhance Tarrant County’s second-largest city once it opens in March 2025. The museum will have 100,000 square feet dedicated to telling the stories of the country’s 3,519 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration for valor in combat. Arlington beat out Denver for the museum in 2019 in part because officials wanted a large number of Americans to know the stories of the medal recipients, Abbott said. The museum will be near the city’s stadiums to add to the entertainment district’s offerings.The debut of Texas Michelin Guide ratings will also enhance tourism, Abbott said.The state’s travel office, Fort Worth and four other Texas cities — Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin — invested $2.7 million for potential economic benefits expected by the Michelin Guide, which recognizes restaurants and hotels across the globe. The travel office paid $450,000 annually, along with a $90,000 per year contribution from the five cities for three years, the Fort Worth Report previously reported.In September, two Fort Worth hotels — Bowie House on Camp Bowie Boulevard and Hotel Drover in the Stockyards — were recognized by the guide. Designations for restaurants will be announced in November.Infrastructure improvements to roads and airports are also aiding in tourism benefits.Visitors come here and want to stay, Abbott said.“People come here, they like it here,” he said. Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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