As Bob Jameson took his last bow as president and CEO of Visit Fort Worth, he also joined the convention and visitor’s bureau organization in celebrating the impact of the city’s $3.6 billion tourism industry — and the city’s growing national image — at its annual meeting on Friday.
According to a visitor study announced at the sold-out event, Fort Worth is the fastest growing city in the nation for tourism growth from 2019 to 2024.
Those visitors come from higher cotton than in the past. According to the report, total visitor household income increased by 24% and for those flying in from at least 250 miles away, that visitor household income increased by 38%.
“We started this meeting 13 years ago to connect tourism to our community,” said Jameson. “Our industry benefits local business and creates jobs, so it’s important we take this opportunity to share our progress and celebrate the results we’ve achieved together.”
This year the event was held at the Fort Worth Convention Center’s arena. The arena, which has hosted Elvis Presley, U2, B.B. King, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Marvin Gaye, among others, will be demolished in April as part of the $700 million upgrade to the facility that opened in 1968.
The expanded convention center is set to open in 2030 and will double the total number of meetings from the current capacity. Visit Fort Worth reported 13 conventions are already booked for that year, representing more than $30 million in economic impact to the city.
Unveiled at the event were new renderings of the updated convention center that features a north facade with windows facing Main Street looking toward Sundance Square and the Tarrant County Courthouse.
Buttons at the Visit Fort Worth annual meeting celebrated retiring Bob Jameson. (Fort Worth Report | Bob Francis)
In her remarks, Mayor Mattie Parker saluted Jameson, who has led Visit Fort Worth for 13 years and, before that, led the Worthington Renaissance Hotel.
“He understands more than anyone that a strong city is built on partnerships and incredibly bold ideas,” she said.
Among those bold ideas emanating from Visit Fort Worth was the city’s Fort Worth Film Commission.
Citing the city’s growing film industry and celebrating the 10th anniversary of the commission, Jameson introduced an exclusive sneak preview of Taylor Sheridan’s “The Madison,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, much of which was filmed in the city. The scene showed Pfeiffer’s character at a downtown Fort Worth location speaking to Russell’s character who was staying at a cabin far away in the woods. But both scenes were filmed here.
Jameson said they had a lot of high hopes for the film commission when it began, but “never did we anticipate Kurt Russell on a rocker at the Log Cabin Village.”
Attendees saw a sneak peek of a new video series featuring Fort Worth’s hometown heroes and the places that they love the most. The first installment will feature Fort Worth through the lens of Grammy Award-winning musician Leon Bridges sharing his favorite places.
At the event, Trinity Metro also unveiled the city’s Latino-inspired rose-colored bus, which has a route running from downtown to La Gran Plaza de Fort Worth.
Visit Fort Worth unveiled a new iteration of its Unexpected City campaign that included an updated voice track by actor Jimmy Stewart honoring Fort Worth’s past and celebrating its future. Stewart’s narration was from the 1977 short film, “The Unexpected City,” originally a gift to the city of Fort Worth from First National Bank of Fort Worth.
Riffing off “The Unexpected City,” there will also be an “Unexpected Center” campaign that will be aimed at meeting and convention planners across the country this fall. This campaign highlights renderings of the building’s future expansion and capacity to host larger groups.
Beyond Award
Each year Visit Fort Worth recognizes an industry professional who goes above and beyond in hospitality with the Beyond Award. Dawn Albarano, an executive assistant to the general manager at the Worthington Renaissance, received the award for her work both at the hotel and in the community.
Tourism by the Numbers
Visit Fort Worth commissioned Tourism Economics to conduct a study on the impact of tourism in the city. The 2025 study reports that key indicators of Fort Worth’s visitor economy have doubled over the past decade, including:
11.7 million visitors (from 50+ miles away, not including locals), compared to 11.5 million in 2024.
30,000 hospitality jobs, the same as in 2024.
$3.6 billion in total economic impact, $3.5 billion in 2024.
$286 million in state and local taxes generated, up from $251 million in 2024.
Courtesy: Visit Fort Worth
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/03/07/taking-his-last-bow-jameson-joins-visit-fort-worth-in-celebrating-tourism-impact/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=437174&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/03/07/taking-his-last-bow-jameson-joins-visit-fort-worth-in-celebrating-tourism-impact/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>