Quote:
Originally Posted by DCReid
In my opinion, the best opportunity to attract tourists to the area would be to better market Galveston. I believe it is the 4th largest cruise terminal. How are its beaches? Since it is a relatively old Southern city, does it have a city scape (and food history) similar to New Orleans or Savannah that would interest tourists? Combining heavily marketing Galveston with other offerings like the Space Center would make Houston more attractive for tourists.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JManc
We own a house down in the Clear Lake area; walking distance from JSC, less than 5 miles to soon to be open Great Wolf Lodge and less than 10 to the Kemah boardwalk plus Galveston about 20-30 minutes away. I think there is a lot potential to boost tourism in that area but I don't think the Bay Area/ Galveston will be destinations in their own right. It will always be for the locals and people already here on business or visiting family.
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This is basically my point. The Houston market already includes all of these areas - the Bay Area, Galveston, etc. are submarkets within it. As the number of resorts and destinations between all of these locales are built, they will boost the overall Houston market's desirability as a tourist destination to some extent.
Again, I'm not saying it's going to be the next Orlando or San Antonio or whatever, but I'm also not saying the new stuff is solely for the locals. It's more likely to grow over the upcoming years as a regional option for tourism and the money in that pot will only increase. That's pretty much it.
For what it's worth, Houston as a market is doing relatively well it seems based on the hotel information from January
per CoStar. The CFP was likely a driver for group sales, but to me, that's all the better. The amount of events the Sports Authority has been landing for venues in the city proper that tend to draw a broader
national & international audience stands only to increase the number of city and area visitors in upcoming years as well.