19-tourism-wk
PROCLAMATION NO. 2004-19
WHEREAS The Huntsville Walker County Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau budgeted approximately $180,000 of Hotel/Motel Tax dollars to operate the CVB and to market Huntsville
as a tourism destination; and
WHEREAS The travel industry’s impact on Walker County accounts for $57 million in travel expenditures, $13 million in payroll and accounts for 950 jobs, local tax receipts from tourism
to $741,000, and state tax receipts from tourism amount to $4,716,000. Walker County was ranked in the top 18% of Texas Counties based on travel spending; and
WHEREAS The Sam Houston Statue and Visitor Center receives approximately $102,000 of Hotel/Motel Tax dollars each years for operations, and has seen the following results since opening
in 1994: More than 462,400 visitor, for an average of approximately 51,000 visitors per year, personally greeted visitors from 96 foreign countries, hosted more than 2,000 guided tours
and presentation of the City of Huntsville, sales tax in the City increase by 28% since the Statue was erected, travel spending in Huntsville/Walker County increased by 38%, and local
tax receipts for travel spending increase by more than 50%; and
WHEREAS Travel spending by visitors in Texas reached $41.4 billion in 2002. The Texas travel and tourism industry employed 450,900 people in the state and generated a total tax impact
of $2.6 billion;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED, by the power vested in me as
Mayor of the City of Huntsville, Texas that:
May 8-16, 2004
be declared:
TOURISM WEEK
in Huntsville, Texas.
PROCLAIMED AND SIGNED this the 4th day of May 2004.
_____________________________
KARL DAVIDSON, MAYOR