Texas Travelers Prefer Outlying Cities to Metros, Except for Houston

"A good case scenario would be a flat showing with 2001," David Teel, the state's tourism director, tells GlobeSt.com. It would be just way too aggressive to hope for a spike, he says. Teel isn't aware of any major building projects for resorts or new attractions this year, but did say hotel development is starting to pick up after months of jetlag due to the travel industry's 2001 backslide.

In a just released report, the Texas Economic Development believes its tourism industry should rebound more quickly than other parts of the nation. Much of the optimism is centered on Texas' appeal to travelers who choose to go by way of roads instead of skies or rails. In a comparison for the last quarter of 2000 and 2001, September traffic was up 9%; October, 7%; November, nearly 23%; and December, 19%.

Jeff Moseley, Texas Economic Development executive director, says "there are some early signs pointing to a turnaround and I'm cautiously optimistic that Texas tourism will rebound by this summer." And that rebound, Teel adds, includes the major markets, but it still will fall short of previous years' growth.

For the most part, the destination points have been smaller and mid-size cities, where festivals are simply packing the hotels and recording gangbuster attendances, Teel says. The Odessa-Midland area posted a 29% increase in its hotel revenues, according to the state.

The report shows Houston's travel dollars, up 7.5%, raked in $235.5 million for Energy City tourism. Austin took the biggest hit of Texas' other metros, plummeting 16.5% for a total of $96.9 million in revenue; Dallas, fell 14.9% for a total of $238.1 million; and San Antonio, dipped 1.4% for a total $151.3 million.

Teel says the state has had healthy growth for at least 12 years, with spending up more than 88% just in the last decade. In 2000, destination travelers dumped an extra 11%–$28 billion–into Texas cities and their attractions.

Teel says the short-term trend will be shorter trips in destination and duration. The average out-of-state Texas visitor stays for about a week. In-state travelers account for about 65% to 70% of the overall travel volume.

To help boost the mood, Texas last month kicked off a $1-million supplemental marketing campaign in its "shoulder states" to draw more travelers across the borders. The state annually spends about $10 million in marketing campaigns, excluding production costs, to tout its products.