To Texans, the award winning advertising campaign with the theme: Texas. It's Like A Whole Other Country® says it all. Texas is home to over 20 million people, more than 4,959 square miles of fresh water, 624 miles of coastline, 191,000 miles of streams and rivers, the largest concentration of bats in the world, the world’s largest livestock auction, and three of the nation’s ten largest cities (not to mention my personal favorite – the meteor crater in Odessa). It is no wonder that Texas is known for its variety of travel and leisure activities. The importance of tourism is widely understood by cities great and small. May 13-21, 2006 was recognized as Texas Tourism Week to remind people of all the opportunities for travel as well as highlight the Texas travel industry and its contribution to the state economy.
In 2005, total travel spending in Texas reached $49.2 billion, a 10.8% increase over 2004 spending. While this growth was due in part to higher room rates and gasoline prices, in (inflation-adjusted) dollars, travel spending was still 4.8% higher in 2005 than the previous year. In addition, total travel spending resulted in local and state tax revenues of $3.4 billion. Among the top regions traveled in the state were the Metroplex with over $16 billion in total spending and the Gulf Coast with more than $12 billion. The least amount spent occurred in Northwest Texas which still brought in over $724 million. In 2005, travel spending in Texas of $14.6 billion directly supported 514,000 jobs. The bulk of these jobs were in food services (143,800); arts, entertainment, and recreation (108,500); and accommodations (97,000). However, travel spending also supported jobs in other industries such as professional services; government; construction; and finance, insurance, and real estate through re-spending of travel-related revenues. It is estimated that the spillover of travel spending amounted to an additional 452,000 jobs and $14.6 billion in earnings. Therefore, travel-generated earnings, direct and secondary, came to $29.1 billion in 2005.
Texas was the destination for more than 202 million visitors in 2005 (business and leisure), a 5.2% increase from 2004 and a 15.9% rise since 2000. While growth in business visitors (17% over the previous year) contributed to the overall climb in visitors, leisure travelers also grew (0.9%) from 2004 and have seen substantial increases since 2000. In fact, the majority of Texas visitors (70%) travel for leisure purposes. Non-residential travel to Texas rose from 39.4 million in 2004 to 44.8 million in 2005. Residential travel also grew from 153.5 million in 2004 to 158.1 million in 2005. The average spending per day per person was slightly above $100, and half of all travel spending was done by Texas residents. Other US residents contributed about 40.4% of total spending, and international visitors provided another 9.5%. Many international visitors frequent Texas with the largest number (over 6.5 million) coming from Mexico. The top 10 countries represented by international visitors to Texas were Mexico, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, China/Hong Kong, Brazil, Korea, and Australia.
So where are these people headed? Good weather and myriad options make Texas a prime destination for outdoor activities. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) maintains 81 state parks and natural areas, 34 state historic sites, 52 wildlife management areas, 8 state fish hatcheries, and the Parrie Haynes Ranch drawing approximately 500,000 visitors a month. While many Texans take advantage of these amenities, they are also common destinations for non-Texans as well. For example, the TPWD 2007 Plan of Action report indicates that roughly 60,000 non-residents bought licenses to hunt in Texas and 96,000 out-of-state anglers traveled to Texas to fish.
A study done by D.K. Shifflet & Associates, Ltd., indicated that the overall top attraction in Texas in 2005 was the Alamo, which has held this ranking since 2003. It was followed by the River Walk (Paseo del Rio), San Marcos Outlet Malls, Sea World of Texas, and Six Flags Over Texas. The study also revealed that non-Texans and Texans top travel destinations differed slightly. While the Alamo was the top attraction for non-Texans, San Marcos Outlet Malls was the number one travel destination for Texans. However, both ranked the River Walk as number two. Also, among the top five for both Texans and non-Texans was Sea World of Texas, and the state capital was sixth on the list of attractions for both groups. Texans, however, also listed Ameriquest Field and Cabela’s (Buda) among the top 30 attractions in Texas while non-Texans listed JFK assassination-related sites. For both Texans and non-Texans, the LBJ and George Bush presidential libraries made the list of top 30 travel destinations.
Large cities in Texas are not the only locations receiving economic benefits from tourism. Small towns across America have been hard hit by large-scale businesses and industrial farming replacing local-owned stores and family farms. Many of these towns in the state have developed creative ways to attract visitors and boost their economies through tourism. Paris, Texas, for example, draws visitors with its 65-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower that is “Texanized” by donning a cowboy hat. The much smaller city of Albany has a highly acclaimed art museum in a building that was once a jail in another era.
All in all, Texas tourism is a thriving contributor to the state economy. The state actively tries to keep the tourism industry expanding with advertisements as well as other public relations efforts both nationally and internationally. Indeed, the campaign theme, Texas. It's Like A Whole Other Country®, with its little bit of everything including historical districts, the feeling of the old West, long stretches of open plains, flowing rivers, ranches as large as some eastern states, sophisticated urban centers, and award winning restaurants, seems to be right on the money.