15-tourism-wk
PROCLAMATION NO. 2005-15
WHEREAS The Huntsville Walker County Chamber of Commerce Convention & Visitors Bureau budgets approximately $180,000 of Hotel/Motel Tax dollars annually to operate the CVB and to
market Huntsville as a tourism destination; and
WHEREAS The travel industry’s impact on Walker County accounts for $60 million in travel expenditures, $14 million in payroll and accounts for 980 jobs, local tax receipts from
tourism amount to $730,000, and state tax receipts from tourism amount to $4,530,000. 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 year for operations, and has seen the following results since
opening in 1994: More than 520,055 visitors, for an average of approximately 55,000 visitors per year, personally greeted visitors from 98 foreign countries, hosted more than 2,000 guided
tours and presentations of the City of Huntsville, sales tax in the City increase by 31% since the Statue was erected, travel spending in Huntsville/Walker County increase by 46%, and
local tax receipts for travel spending increase by more than 47%; and
WHEREAS Travel spending by visitors in Texas reached $41.2 billion in 2003. The Texas travel and tourism industry employed 476,710 people in the state and generated a total tax
impact of $2.2 billion;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED, by the power vested in me as
Mayor of the City of Huntsville, Texas that:
May 7-15, 2005
be declared:
TOURISM WEEK
in Huntsville, Texas.
PROCLAIMED AND SIGNED this the 29th day of April 2005.
_________________________
STEED SMITH, MAYOR PRO TEM