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the booming growth over the past several years.” As part of the strategy to drawmore visitors to The Woodlands and fur- ther build this industry locally, VTW began working with an advertising agency early this year to start adver- tising in other parts of the country, developed a convention sales tool and will add a new sales stamember next year, VTW President Nick Wolda said. VTW expenditures increased from . million to . million from -, according to the budget. “In the Midwest and the Northeast corridor … especially in the winter when the weather is miserable, let’s get them down here and enjoy what we have to oer,” Rieser said. CONVENTIONS CRUCIAL A key source of tourism dollars in The Woodlands is conferences hosted by area hotels. The Woodlands has hotels, including about , rooms and , square feet of meeting space, according to VTW. Fred Domenick, the general man- ager of The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Conference Cen- ter, said he believes the industry is healthy, but growth is not as strong as it was in previous years. “Rates are not growing at the rate we would like them to be and at the rate we’ve enjoyed,” he said. “It’s healthier in the convention side than in the room side … but it’s still a healthy market in general compared to many other submarkets and mar- kets.” The Woodlands Waterway Marri- ott has housed such diverse groups as the Lunar Planetary and Science Conference and Copa Rayados Soccer Tournament. However, some con- ventions have outgrown the center. One Houston-area conference that had held its annual January expo at the Marriott until was the Hous- ton Safari Club Foundation, said Joe Betar, the club’s executive director. The HSCF relocated its annual convention to the George R. Brown Convention Center in because it required a larger space, Betar said. “Although The Woodlands Water- way Marriott Hotel and Convention Center provided excellent service, we did outgrow the location,” Betar said. Meanwhile, The Woodlands cap- tured a conference in May when Con- ventionSouth chose the Marriott for its rst time hosting the Rendezvous South conference in Texas. The con- ference features - attendees in the meeting planning industry.

advertising targeting out-of-state visitors. Shenandoah also continues to grow its industry with three more hotels slated for the small city in the next year, said John Mayner, Shenan- doah’s Convention and Visitors Bureau director. However, no new hotels are conrmed for develop- ing areas of The Woodlands such as Hughes Landing, ocials said. This summer also marks the for- mative stages of a group tentatively called Big Idea Group, township Director John Brown said. Members representing government and busi- nesses in the area will look at the big picture of what The Woodlands could oer to distinguish itself, he said. “We looked toward how we could sustain our hotel revenues and con- ventions. … We want to be looking at ve, years down the road,” Brown said. “With the growth in Montgom- ery County, there’s always somebody with another hotel. … These people are already planning, so we need to plan as well.” TOURISMBENEFITS TOWNSHIP The goal of attracting tourist dol- lars is to ultimately bring money from outside the region as a source for township revenue, ocials said. Hotel tax revenue helps to fund tour- ism and marketing eorts, including local events, according to the state comptroller’s oce. Township Director Bruce Rieser said although hotel tax revenue was disappointing in the beginning of the year, part of that is due to projections based on .% growth in the previous year. For the rst four months of the year, hotel tax revenue was down, although the budget estimated . million on hotel tax revenue this year. Last year’s revenue was . million. “We got more aggressive with fore- cast numbers,” he said. “We were looking for an increase in hotel tax revenue. The rst couple months were not good, but we see trends working in the other direction.” Sharp said rapid growth had occurred in previous years, but that has now slowed. “Although we are behind in hotel tax in terms of when we compare to the [budgeted amount], we are still % ahead of where we were last year,” Sharp said in July. “The other thing aecting us is competition just outside our borders. It’s going to be more moderate growth rather than

HOTEL TAX REVENUE BELOW PROJECTIONS After budgeting for 7.5% growth in hotel tax revenue for 2019, growth in The Woodlands is less robust so far this year. Shenandoah is also off its budgeted projections for 2019.

The Woodlands

1488

14 hotels

2,200 rooms

160,000 square feet of meeting space

242

Shenandoah

2978

10 hotels

977 rooms

15,000 square feet of meeting space

HOTEL TAX REVENUE

Shenandoah

The Woodlands

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019

$7.79M $7.86M $8.79M $8.99M

$1.16M $1.13M $1.21M

$1.51M Oct.-June: $1.01M

Jan.-June: $4.7M

Budgeted: $1.53M

Budgeted: $9.69M

TheWoodlands budgeted for a 7.5% increase in 2019 but has only seen a 1% increase as of June.

Shenandoah budgeted for $1.53 million in its 2018-19 fiscal year, but has seen a 5.8% decrease.

OCTOBER-JUNE REVENUE

JANUARY-JUNE REVENUE

$4.65M

$1.07M

2018

FY 2018

1% increase

5.8% decrease

$4.7M

$1.01M

2019

FY 2019

EMPLOYMENT SNAPSHOT

The tourism industry employs about 4,100 people in The Woodlands, which is about the same number as the area’s larger individual nonretail employer, Conroe ISD. Hospitality and entertainment make up about 5% of the area jobs.

4,100 people are employed in travel and tourism in The Woodlands area in 2019.

The Woodlands Water- way Marriott Hotel and Convention Center: 221

Howard Hughes Hospitality: 557

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion: 563

The Club at Carlton Woods: 229

ClubCorp: 498

5% of The Woodlands area jobs are in hospitality and entertainment.

SOURCES:VISITTHEWOODLANDS,THEWOODLANDSECONOMICDEVELOPMENTPARTNERSHIP/ COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER

SOURCES:THEWOODLANDSTOWNSHIP,CITYOF SHENANDOAH/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER

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