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Uvalde County tourism staff report higher visitor traffic, ask commissioners to broaden hotel-tax spending
Summary
County tourism staff reported increased visitor numbers after recent marketing and asked commissioners to permit broader uses of hotel-occupancy tax revenue, aligning Uvalde County with other Texas counties that allow multiple spending categories.
Uvalde County tourism staff told the commissioners the county saw a sharp increase in web and social engagement after new marketing work and requested a change in local hotel-occupancy tax rules so the county could spend money in more categories than current rules allow.
"We gave out 5, event marketing grants in quarter 4," the tourism staff reported, and added that three of those grants "together brought in over 10,000 visitors, that stayed at least 1 night in the city or county." The staff also said Hunter's Roundup attracted "over 1,700 visitors." The presentation said the county had partnered with CrowdRip and planned "50 professional photo shoots" over the next year and that traffic across social media and the county website had increased nearly sevenfold since the new campaign began.
The tourism presentation also included a request to change how the county can use hotel-occupancy tax funds. Staff said the county currently allocates roughly 75% of those funds to advertising and marketing and 25% to the county. "We recently found out that we cannot spend it other than marketing," the presenter said, and asked the court to consider updating county policy to match the seven-category framework that most Texas counties use so the funds could support broader visitor-related projects.
Why it matters: hotel-occupancy tax rules determine what local governments may fund with revenue from short-term lodging. Expanding allowable categories would let the county apply dollars to a wider set of visitor services and projects rather than strictly to promotion.
During questions, a commissioner asked for clarification about the planned 50 photo shoots and the relationship with the vendor. Staff said the vendor handles on-site shoots and the county provides campaign direction. Staff also mentioned a proposed update to a "hot packs" policy to allow paying for more than just marketing and said an associated bill had been filed in the Legislature (bill number not specified in the transcript).
The court voted to accept the tourism report as presented during the meeting. The staff said it will continue monthly outreach sessions for local businesses and partners and will return with any specific ordinance or code language changes needed to alter how hotel-occupancy tax dollars may be used.
A proposal to jointly align Uvalde County's code with a neighboring county's seven-category structure was discussed; staff said Real County had filed or jointly submitted a bill with Uvalde County to effect similar changes, and county representatives said they would coordinate with state legislators named in the discussion.
