CVB Update

Jordan Meserole of the B/CS Convention and Visitors Bureau visits with WTAW’s Bill Oliver about the economic impact of summer events, a reminder to download the new Destination Aggieland smartphone app, and a reminder to check out and submit events on the CVB website.

Click here to be directed to the CVB website.

 

News release courtesy of the Bryan/College Station Convention and Visitors Bureau:

Mark it down as the summer that Bryan-College Station was more successful than the movie industry. While recent reports state that national movie gross incomes were trailing 20% behind last year, Aggieland saw its summer economic impact make a significant jump. Hotel tax receipts were trending up by almost 24% from 2013, and the Bryan-College Station Convention & Visitors Bureau (BCS CVB) estimates through conventions, sports events, and general tourist visits that economic impact during the summer months reached the 10 million dollar mark.

“Up until a few years ago, people around town remarked about how Bryan-College Station became a ghost town,” said Shannon Overby, President/CEO for the BCS CVB. “But that’s changed. We’re seeing more and more conventions and sports tournaments bring their events to our great community. We’ve had multiple hotels and restaurants remark that this is one of the best summers they have had on record.”

Annual events like the 4-H Roundup – which brought an estimated 4,000 visitors with an impact of above one million dollars – and the Great American Shootout – which brought an estimated 2,000 visitors with an impact of near $500,000 – helped keep the economy healthy. But new events such as the Youth World Cup – which hosted participants from 16 countries at the Expo for an entire week – as well as events that have come back to B/CS after leaving for other cities such as the 7-on-7 Football tournament and the Games of Texas have all helped skyrocket the B/CS summer economy into new levels.

“We have great staff in our office, as well as at both cities that work tirelessly to attract these events and visitors to our area — all the kudos should go to them for making sure the phrase ‘slow summer’ is never said again in our area,” Overby said. “And we can’t track every visitor that comes to our community or how much they spend – so the $10 million mark could be very conservative. It could be much higher than that, especially considering attractions such as the George Bush Library and Messina Hof brought in a high number of visitors on their own this summer.”

The BCS CVB uses tourism economic multipliers as evaluated by the Recreation, Parks & Tourism office at Texas A&M to calculate estimated impact from the conventions and sports tournaments. The office declares a multiplier of $130 for sports and $205 for conventions. The BCS CVB estimates that between May 1 and August 1, approximately 60,000 visitors entered Bryan and College Station for a convention or sports tournament. It should be noted these numbers are estimates based on events and conventions that the CVB has worked with or brought in to the cities, and is an estimate rather than a hard figure.