Houston Tourism and Conventions
Hotel Occupancy
February brought the highest monthly figures ever for average room rate ($132.21, up 10.6 percent from February '07) and revenue per available room ($95.64, up 13.1 percent), according to data published today by PKF Consulting. Occupancy averaged a healthy 72.3 percent for the month, with nine of the 13 submarkets over 70 percent. Leader among the nine was the Texas Medical Center submarket, which saw occupancy swell to 83.6 percent. The Central Business District led in average room rate ($180), followed by Galleria/Post Oak ($158). Four additional submarkets topped the $100 mark.
The stellar February performance offset a ho-hum January, putting average occupancy for the first two months of this year at 66.8 percent, up less than a point from the same period last year. Average room rates for January-February notched a 7.8 percent increase, helping RevPAR grow 9.2 percent.
Even-numbered years tend to be strong convention years for Houston, says PKF vice president Randy McCaslin, who late last year touted '08 as "a banner year" for convention business in local hotels.
Sources: Greater Houston Partnership; PKF Consulting
Houston Tourism
More than 34.4 million people visited the greater Houston area in 2006.
Visitors spent more than $10 billion in Houston in 2006, an increase of 7.5 percent over 2005.
In 2006, travel directly generated 116,400 jobs in Houston, with an estimated $4.3 billion in earnings.
Travel generated $237.8 million in local taxes for the city of Houston in 2006.
In 2006, more than 9.9 million hotel room nights were sold, with $605 million of direct revenue to the hotels.
60 percent of all domestic travelers to Houston are from Texas.
Kemah Boardwalk, Space Center Houston, Moody Gardens, Minute Maid Park, Schlitterbahn, Houston Zoo and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston are among Texas’ top attractions, according to a recent survey.
Top activities for visitors to Houston include:
- Sightseeing
- Visiting attractions, particularly nightlife and amusement parks
- Nature, especially the beach and waterfront
- Cultural and historical spots—museums and performing arts in particular
- Outdoor sports, especially golf
Source: State of Texas Department of Economic Development and Tourism
Conventions and Business Travel in Houston
In 2007, Houston hosted 294 conventions, events and shows, which drew nearly 614,287 convention delegates to the city of Houston with an economic impact of $598,315,538, based on attendance.
Houston is listed as one of the top 25 cities for convention, conference and seminar travelers, according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA).
TIA also ranks Houston as a top city for general business travelers.
Sources: Destination Marketing Association International; Travel Industry Association of America; Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Travel Statistics from Mexico6,532,000 visitors arrived to Texas by from Mexico by air and car in 2005.
Texas ranks as the second most visited state in United States by Mexican travelers after California. Florida and New York rank as No. 3 and No. 4.
Mexico consistently ranks as the No. 1 source of international visits to Texas, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The economic impact from Mexican visitors to Texas is estimated at $3.6 billion.
Mexican visitors spend an average of $96 per day in Texas and 71.8 percent stay in hotels or motels when they come. They spend an average of 3.6 nights in those hotels.
59.2 percent of Mexican travelers state their main purpose of travel to Texas as leisure/recreation and holidays. 75.6 percent of those state shopping as their favorite activity when they are here.
Most Mexican travelers do not gather information about their trip online. 51.9 percent go through a travel agency and another 27.1 percent go to the airline directly. Booking is also done with the agency or the airline.
65.3 percent of Mexican travelers list their employment as professional, manager or executive. Their average annual household income is $71,900. 26 percent of those surveyed by the State of Texas had an annual income of more than $100,000.
Houston is the top travel destination for Mexican visitors in Texas. In fact, 47.6 percent of all Mexican visitors to Texas come to Houston by air or car.
According to the Houston Airport System, 2.98 million passengers traveled between Houston and Mexico in 2006. This includes pass-through traffic at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.
This does not account for an extremely high amount of road traffic into Houston from northern Mexico.
Sources: Texas Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism/ Research, the Houston Airport System
Cruising
The state of Texas is an expanding cruise embarkation market with the Ports of Galveston and Houston both expanding their cruise operations. With $709 million in direct spending and 13,817 jobs paying $578 million in income, Texas accounted for just under 5 percent of the industry’s national economic impact.
Texas’ two principal ports, Galveston and Houston, generated 518,000 embarkations during 2004, 6.4 percent of total U.S. cruise embarkations. The combined embarkations at the two ports during 2004 increased by 50 percent over 2003.
Tourism-related businesses, such as travel agencies, airlines, hotels, etc. received more than $280 million, approximately 40 percent of the industry’s direct expenditures in Texas in 2004.
Source: International Council of Cruise Lines
Houston’s Largest Meeting and Convention Facilities
- Reliant Park – 1.6 million square feet of total meeting space
- George R. Brown Convention Center – 1.2 million square feet of total meeting space
- The Lone Star Convention & Expo Center and The Montgomery County Fairgrounds – 191,000 square feet of total meeting space
- Galveston Island Convention Center at the San Luis Resort – 105,000 square feet of total meeting space
- Moody Gardens Hotel, Spa and Convention Center – 100,000 square feet of total meeting space
- Hilton Americas-Houston – 92,000 square feet of total meeting space
- Pasadena Convention Center and Municipal Fairgrounds – 86,200 square feet of total meeting space
- The Westin Galleria and Westin Oaks – 75,742 square feet of total meeting space
- The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center - 70,000 square feet of total meeting space
- Hyatt Regency Houston - 64,000 square feet of total meeting space
Source: Houston Business Journal
Green Houston 
