Attractions such as the Historic Galveston Island Pleasure Pier are a major reason the island draws more than 8 million visitors a year, according to Visit Galveston.
Visit Galveston
Charles Barkley can talk all he wants about Galveston’s “dirty” beaches, but those jokes were painfully outdated two years ago. No longer simply a colorful Texas beach town or convenient weekend getaway for Houstonians, the city of Jack Johnson, Glen Campbell, and the Maceo brothers is now a major international destination.
If it wasn’t, Galveston wouldn’t have won the right to host next year’s Go West Summit. The annual tourism conference, which recently concluded its 38th edition in Las Vegas, will hold its 39th on the island next Feb. 27-March 3. Traditionally, the next Go West location is announced at a so-called ‘reveal breakfast,’ for which the new host city also picks up the tab.
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It was a bill that Visit Galveston, the city’s tourism office, was happy to pay, according to executive director Tony Lyle.
The panoramic windows at the Galveston Island Convention Center overlooking the Gulf of Mexico will almost certainly impress visitors at next year’s Go West Summit tourism conference, Visit Galveston’s Tony Lyle told Chron.
Visit Galveston
“I’ve been going to that show for 23 years, and it’s the first time I’ve heard applause and people whooping and cheering” after the announcement, Lyle told Chron Monday. “People are very excited. The rest of that day—I was there with a colleague of mine—we [were] getting constant questions. They’re all so excited to come to Galveston and come to Texas.”
Organized by the Colorado-based International Tourism Marketing, Inc., Go West welcomes around 500 travel influencers and tourism officials from 27 U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The idea, Lyle said, is to match ‘buyers’— travel agents, tour operators, and the like—with ‘suppliers’ such as hotel chains or travel-facing public entities like Visit Galveston. (Thirty-one countries were also represented in Vegas, Lyle noted, including sizable delegations from Asia, Europe, and Latin America.)
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If all that sounds a little inside baseball, think of Go West as a distant cousin to Houston’s annual CERA Week: a networking bonanza for the travel industry where deals get made, agendas planned, and the host city reaps the benefits. Lyle likened it to a “speed-dating matchmaking event,” explaining that one whole day is set aside for 15-minute face-to-face appointments.
Historic architecture, including the Bishop’s Palace (left) and Sacred Heart Church, are also among Galveston’s leading attractions.
Visit Galveston
“Galveston has the product, the history and the hospitality to make a real impression,” Go West president Mary Motsenbocker said in a news release. “We expect this to be a strong host city partnership that benefits our participants and Galveston’s tourism efforts.”
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Indeed, hosting a conference of this size should be a piece of cake for Galveston. Lyle said one of the things that most impressed the Go West team was the “size and scale” of the city’s hospitality infrastructure. But because what happens outside the convention center is equally important for a convention of this nature, Visit Galveston also plans to showcase one of the island’s other main assets: its variety.
In other words, the city’s steady growth into one of the nation’s leading cruise hubs is only part of the story.
“Organizers want to know that delegates and their guests will have plenty to do in their free time,” Lyle explained. “In Galveston, that’s a real strength. With more than 200 restaurants, a wide range of attractions, shopping, and our coastal setting, there is something for everyone. We’re excited about the opportunity to showcase all of that and create a memorable experience for attendees.”
Shopping along corridors like Postoffice Street is also a leading attraction for the island.
Visit Galveston
Incredibly, next year’s will be the first Go West to take place near an ocean. (Last year’s was in Palm Springs, and Lake Tahoe before that.) With that kind of home-field advantage, Lyle is hoping the island will sell itself.
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“Having the convention center with those big glass windows that look straight out to the Gulf [and] the beach is truly something unique,” he said. “And with everything else—the festivals, the food, the people, the history, the art—it’s so varied, and I think that’s what we’ve got to offer.
“That’s how we kind of position ourselves, anyway,” Lyle added. “It is an island apart.”
Lyle reckons next year’s Go West will give Galveston a decent hospitality bump, but if the delegates like what they see, the island is likely to reap even bigger dividends in the years to come. European buyers in particular have already been bullish on Galveston lately, he noted.
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“It’s a good kind of guarantee,” Lyle said. “These people also stay longer. They tend to spend more money. So although it’s not as big as the amount of people that come from Houston, these people are very valuable to us because of the amount they spend and the time that they stay.”