City Council will vote next week on the long-coming agreement with local hotels that could generate roughly $7 million a year for the next decade to fund services to aid people experiencing homelessness. The Austin Tourism Public Improvement District (ATPID) has been a bargaining chip in local political circles since 2016, with former Mayor Steve […]
Tourism Commission
Posted inAustin
Tourism Commission seeks answers on stalled hotel tax to fund homeless services
The Tourism Commission wants to take a hard look at the lack of progress on, and new considerations involved in, the long-discussed taxing district that could see large hotels contribute a new tax levy toward costs associated with homelessness. Next month, the commission will receive a presentation from Scott Joslove, a former commission member and […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Convention center eyes ‘campus-style’ events schedule during closure for expansion
Leaders from the Austin Convention Center plan to take a campus-style approach to coordinating a greatly scaled back calendar of meeting and event business at downtown hotels during the four to five years the facility is closed for a substantial reconstruction expected to cost more than $1 billion. Staff from the convention center spoke with […]
Posted inAustin
Convention center’s closure for expansion could trigger bond default
The city may not move forward with the next steps in the Austin Convention Center expansion until an agreement is reached with current holders to rework some terms of roughly $163 million in hotel bonds. A memo discussed at Monday’s meeting of the Tourism Commission outlines why the request for qualifications for vendors on the […]
Posted inAustin
Tourism Commission recommendations include gondolas funded by hotel tax
A transit system geared toward tourists, paying Austin musicians to promote local tourism, and a variety of programming and promotional efforts for historic sites are among a new batch of recommended uses for the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax dollars. This week the Tourism Commission unanimously approved a report from its Parks and Environment Working Group […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Questions abound with convention center’s future up in the air
With up being the only viable direction in which to significantly expand the Austin Convention Center, the deal structure and timeline for such a project appears to have gotten far more complicated. Former City Council Member Jimmy Flannigan is now president of Austin Convention Enterprises, a public facilities corporation created to manage the city-owned Hilton […]
Posted inAustin
Lodging industry slows push for hotel tax to fund housing, aid for homeless
Leaders of the city’s lodging industry have slowed their push to create a new tax on hotel stays that would indirectly free up money to fund services for the homeless. The Tourism Commission received an update at its Monday meeting about progress on the creation of a long-proposed Tourism Public Improvement District. Such a move […]
Posted inAustin
Study weighs market impact of convention center expansion, predicts rebound from Covid-19
A new market analysis finds that the proposed expansion of the Austin Convention Center would bring more than 1,700 jobs to the city and add $306 million in annual economic impact from the local events and tourism industry. The market viability study and planning update from HVS Convention, Sports & Entertainment Facilities Consulting of Chicago looked at […]
Posted inAustin
Tourism leaders see multiyear hit to tourism business and hotel tax from Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to cause a drop in local tourism and events business for at least five years, with a decline of at least 25 percent in hotel business this year and an ongoing drag on the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax collections going forward. A summary of the current state of hotel tax […]
Posted inPlanning
Tourism Commission hears latest on convention center progress, homelessness funds
City staffers are engaged in talks with the owners of two and a half blocks of property located west of the Austin Convention Center in an attempt to learn what kinds of sales, leases or other property agreements can be executed to move forward with an ambitious expansion of the facility. The Tourism Commission received […]
Posted inAustin
Tourism Commission wants agreement between city, short-term rental companies
The Tourism Commission has asked City Council to change its long-held stance toward short-term rental platforms like Airbnb in favor of an agreement that would earn the city millions of dollars in new Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue each year. At Monday’s meeting, the commission unanimously approved a recommendation to Council to reassess its negotiations with […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Tourism Commission backs 2017 findings pushing convention center expansion
Signaling more possible momentum for a push to expand the Austin Convention Center, the city’s Tourism Commission has recommended City Council adopt a 2017 report outlining the benefits and possible frameworks for the project. At last week’s meeting, the commission voted unanimously – with new member Brian Rodgers abstaining – to ask Council to implement […]