Texas Tourism Friendly Community Certification Overview
Summary
TLDRNate Garren, Tourism Deputy Director at Travel Texas, introduces the Tourism Friendly Texas program aimed at promoting the state as a top travel destination. The program, managed by Travel Texas, seeks to enhance local economic development through tourism, offering a certification process for communities to become 'Tourism Friendly'. The process involves submitting a letter of intent, completing a questionnaire, and undergoing online training. Successful communities gain state recognition, access to resources, and the opportunity to leverage tourism for economic growth.
Takeaways
- 😀 Nate Garren introduces the Tourism Friendly Texas program, emphasizing its role in enhancing local economic development through tourism promotion.
- 🌟 The mission of Travel Texas is to market Texas as a premier travel destination, influencing travel and creating revenue to support tourism industry jobs.
- 📈 Travel Texas is responsible for tourism promotion primarily to non-Texans, with activities including advertising, public relations, marketing, and travel research.
- 💼 The program is part of the Governor's Texas Economic Development and Tourism office, working alongside various state agencies to promote Texas as a global business and travel destination.
- 🏆 The Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program is a new certification aimed at encouraging communities to pursue tourism as an economic development strategy.
- 📝 Eligibility for the program is open to local governments or nonprofit organizations that lead tourism promotion and development efforts in their community.
- 📋 The certification process involves three steps: sending a letter of intent, completing a questionnaire, and viewing online training.
- 🤝 Benefits of the certification include state recognition, access to resources and training, and the opportunity to engage with stakeholders and inspire community pride.
- 🔗 The program offers support to smaller rural communities with limited tourism resources, helping them to develop tourism attractions and strengthen their tourism industry.
- 🔄 To maintain the certification, communities are required to revisit their questionnaire every three years to ensure information remains current and up-to-date.
Q & A
What is the role of Nate Garren in the video?
-Nate Garren is the Tourism Deputy Director at Travel Texas, introducing the Tourism Friendly Texas program.
What is the main goal of the Travel Texas program?
-The main goal of the Travel Texas program is to enhance and extend local economic development efforts by marketing the state as a premier travel destination, influencing travel to Texas, creating revenues, and supporting tourism industry jobs.
How does Travel Texas influence travel to Texas?
-Travel Texas influences travel to Texas through advertising, public relations, and marketing activities both domestically and internationally, as well as conducting travel research to provide a foundation for its tourism activities.
What is the estimated state tax generated by influence travel from outside of Texas in the last full fiscal year?
-The estimated state taxes generated by influence travel from outside of Texas in the last full fiscal year were around $200 million, which is a 17% increase over the prior year.
What is the 'halo effect' mentioned in the script?
-The 'halo effect' refers to the positive impact of travel promotion on educating, inspiring, and improving perceptions of the state, leading to a measurable increase among those aware of Travel Texas advertising compared to those who are not.
What is the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program?
-The Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program is a new certification managed by Travel Texas, created to encourage communities to pursue tourism as an economic development strategy and provide resources to support their efforts.
What are the eligibility criteria for the Tourism Friendly Texas certification?
-Eligibility for the Tourism Friendly Texas certification is open to local governments or nonprofit organizations that serve as the lead for tourism promotion and development efforts in their community.
What are the benefits communities can receive through the Tourism Friendly Texas designation?
-Benefits include state recognition for completing the certification process, opportunities to celebrate tourism successes, better positioning to take advantage of opportunities with Travel Texas and other state agencies, access to resources, training, and educational materials, and the potential to inspire community pride.
What are the three steps required to achieve the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation?
-The three steps are: 1) Sending a letter of intent, 2) Submitting the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community questionnaire, and 3) Viewing the online training provided by Travel Texas and state agency partners.
What is required in the letter of intent for the Tourism Friendly Texas certification?
-The letter of intent should identify the community applying for the certification and the entity managing the application, and establish a staff liaison for communication throughout the certification process.
How often should certified communities revisit their questionnaire to maintain their Tourism Friendly Texas designation?
-Certified communities should revisit their questionnaire every three years to maintain their Tourism Friendly Texas designation.
Outlines
🌟 Introduction to Tourism Friendly Texas Program
Nate Garren, the Deputy Director of Tourism at Travel Texas, introduces the Tourism Friendly Texas program. The program aims to enhance local economic development by promoting Texas as a top travel destination for domestic and international tourists. It focuses on influencing travel to Texas, which generates revenue and supports tourism industry jobs. Travel Texas is responsible for tourism promotion to non-Texans and conducts research to inform its activities. The program includes advertising, public relations, marketing, and travel research. The script mentions a significant increase in state taxes generated by out-of-state travel and the positive impact of travel promotion on perceptions of Texas. The Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program is a new initiative to encourage communities to use tourism as an economic development strategy, offering resources and support.
📝 Steps and Benefits of the Tourism Friendly Texas Certification
The script outlines the steps and benefits of the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program. To become certified, communities must send a letter of intent, complete a questionnaire, and view online training provided by Travel Texas and its partners. The certification process includes an introductory meeting, a final interview, and the submission of supporting documents like letters of support and a tourism proclamation. The benefits of certification include state recognition, access to resources and training, and the opportunity to engage stakeholders and inspire community pride. The program also includes steps to maintain certification, such as revisiting the questionnaire every three years. The script concludes by inviting communities to partner with Travel Texas and participate in the program.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Tourism Friendly Texas
💡Economic Development
💡Certification
💡Marketing
💡Travel Research
💡State Taxes
💡Halo Effect
💡Letter of Intent
💡Questionnaire
💡Online Training
💡Supporting Documents
Highlights
Introduction to the Tourism Friendly Texas program
Gratitude expressed for participation in the program
Mission statement of Travel Texas to enhance local economic development
Travel Texas' role as the sole state entity for tourism promotion to non-Texans
Activities of the program include advertising, public relations, and marketing
Travel research provides a foundation for tourism activities
Return on investment study showing $200 million in state taxes generated
17% increase in state taxes from the prior year
The halo effect of travel promotion on educating and improving state perceptions
Travel Texas as part of the Governor's Texas Economic Development and Tourism office
Collaboration with various state offices to promote Texas as a business and travel destination
Introduction of the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program
Aims to encourage communities to pursue tourism as an economic development strategy
Goals of the program include strengthening relationships and educating local leaders
Eligibility for the program is open to local governments or nonprofit organizations
Benefits of the designation include state recognition and access to resources
Three-step process to achieve Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation
Step one requires sending a letter of intent
Step two involves submitting a questionnaire and scheduling an introductory meeting
Step three is viewing online training provided by Travel Texas and partners
Final interview to review the questionnaire and attachments
Press release and logo provided for certified communities
Maintenance of certification requires revisiting the questionnaire every three years
Contact information provided for further inquiries about the program
Anticipation for the upcoming year of working with the program
Transcripts
hello my name is Nate Garren I'm the
turism deputy director at Travel Texas
I'm going to be doing a a short video
introducing the tourism friendly Texas
program and I would like to thank you uh
for your uh participation in this
program with us we we really appreciate
your partnership and look forward to
working with you on the designation over
the upcoming year we hope that you find
these videos informative and in this uh
first module I'm going to quickly
introduce the travel Texas program and
review the steps that your community
must undertake to receive tourism
friendly Texas certified Community
designation at Travel Texas our mission
statement is to enhance and extend Local
Economic Development efforts by
marketing the state as a premier travel
destination in out of state domestic and
international markets uh we do this to
influence travel to Texas which creates
revenues and supports tourism industry
jobs travel Texas is the only state
entity responsible for tourism promotion
primarily to non- Texans major
activities performed by the program
include advertising public relations and
marketing both domestically and in
international markets uh travel research
is conducted to provide a foundation
that informs and directs the program's
tourism activities
and and also to provide statistics on
the Travel industry as a way to
encourage tourism
development one of the research studies
done by the travel research uh program
is a return on investment
study uh we estimate that uh state taxes
generated by influence travel from
outside of Texas in our last full fiscal
year were around $200 million uh an
impressive increase of 17% uh over the
prior
year along with the impacts on influence
travel uh travel promotion also has a
halo effect it's a way to help educate
uh and Inspire and improve perceptions
of the state we see a measurable
increase among those who are aware of of
travel Texas advertising compared to
those unaware of Texas as as a good
place to relocate a business start a
career start a business live and play
attend college and
more so travel Texas is part of the
office of the governor Texas Economic
Development and Tourism office we work
side by side with the business and
Community Development Economic
Development Finance the Texas chips
office Texas Workforce investment
Council Texas Music office and Texas
film commission to promote the state of
Texas as a leading Global business
location and Premier travel
destination so in the following slides
I'll review the tourism friendly Texas
program the tourism friendly Texas
certified Community program is a a brand
new certification managed by travel
Texas again within the governor's Texas
Economic Development and Tourism office
and this was created to encourage
communities to pursue tourism as an
economic development strategy and
provide resources to support their
efforts
some goals we have for the program are
to strengthen relationships with our
existing Community Partners we would
like to educate local leaders on the
importance of Tourism as a tool for
economic development encourage
participation in state tour government
programs and other resources available
for tourism development and use this as
a way to assist smaller rural
communities who may have limited tourism
resources like I said the tourism
friendly certificed Community uh
designation is brand new and it can be
achieved by completing this three-steps
scene here I'll I'll go through each one
of these steps in a little bit more
detail and you're also welcome to visit
uh the URL on this slide uh for more
information but first quickly to review
the eligibility for the program uh
tourism friendly Texas certification is
open to local governments or nonprofit
organizations that serve as the lead for
for tourism promotion and development
efforts in their Community uh often
these organizations are responsible for
administering local hotel occupancy tax
revenues and since this is a community
designation um only one entity may be
the organization applying for the
designation for a given
area some benefits that we hope
communities will receive uh through
their designation is first and foremost
St res State recognition uh for
completing the certification process and
an opportunity to celebrate uh tourism
successes we hope that certified
communities are better positioned to
take advantage of uh opportunities with
travel Texas and other state agencies
we'll be providing access to resources
training and educational materials to
help with developing tourism
attractions and this could be an
opportunity for further engagement with
stakeholders or to inspire uh Community
Pride and ultimately we hope that the
certification process is a way to
generate ideas and we hope that some of
the tools and resources you'll learn
about will be a way to help make these
uh ideas more
actionable so back to the steps uh step
one is to send us a letter of intent
within this letter we ask that you
identify the community applying for
tourism friendly Texas Community
certification
as well as the entity that will be
managing the application uh please also
establish a staff liaison so we will
have a contact to work with throughout
the certification
process step two is to submit the
tourism friendly Texas certified
Community questionnaire um we ask that
you complete section one and send that
to us first so that we have some uh
basic information on your community and
your organization and some attachments
to review at this time we ask that you
stop and schedule an introductory
meeting for us uh with us before
proceeding uh to other sections of the
questionnaire or to viewing your online
training um after our introductory
meeting we'll ask that you complete the
remaining sections of the questionnaire
uh these are more short answer questions
that cover topics uh like uh more
details on your
organization uh destination marketing
activities destination management
activities
uh as well as stakeholder support along
with the short essay questions uh
section six outlines uh a few more uh
supporting documents that we're
requiring to receive the designation uh
including letters of support a minimum
of three uh ideally from different
stakeholders including one uh that must
be from an elected official uh as well
as a tourism Pro Proclamation from uh
your local municipal government showing
support for uh the community pursuing
the C tourism friendly Texas certified
Community
designation um when you're feeling good
about your questions and you've made
steps towards uh arranging for the
supporting materials uh please stop and
and schedule a final interview with
travel Texas before you send these
materials our
way um step three is to view the online
training this could be done concurrently
as you're working on the questionnaire
um online training will be provided
including required training from travel
Texas as well as additional training
from some of our state agency partners
and and programs with with the tourism
Focus um these recordings will be posted
as available and you will be notified
when when du trainings are posted and
again please plan to view the training
concurrently as you are working on step
two and completing your tourism friendly
Texas questionnaire
in the final interview we expect to
review the questionnaire with you uh as
well as the attachments and trainings
just to ensure completeness uh we would
like to schedule a presentation of your
community
certification um we'll collaborate with
you on a press release that will come
from the office of the governor to
announce the designation and share the
tourism friendly Texas certified
Community logo uh for you to use as you
see fit we'll also make plans to include
your community on the Travel Texas
industry website on a page designated to
tourism friendly Texas certified
communities and we do not want this uh
certification to kind of be a one andone
so we will have steps in place to
maintain your certification uh including
at a minimum we'll ask that every three
years that you revisit your
questionnaire uh really just to help us
keep the information up to dat and
ensure that we still have uh current
contacts with your organization
so if you have any questions on tourism
friendly Texas or or others for for
travel Texas uh please feel free to
reach out our contact information is
available at the URL on your screen or
you could scan uh this QR
code and finally thank you for uh
partnering with us and participating in
the tourism friendly Texas certified
Community program um we're really
excited to work with you on this over
the coming year
and uh really can't wait to get started
thank you
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