League City staff preview spring events; report roughly $75,000 in HOT funds available

League City tourism and communications staff on Thursday outlined a series of upcoming events, marketing campaigns and arts projects and told the Hotel Occupancy Tax board the HOT fund has roughly $75,000 available for allocation this fiscal year.

Stephanie Paul, identified in the meeting as a manager with CBB, said the board has $100,000 in HOT funds set aside and about $25,000 has been allocated so far for the year. "We have a hundred thousand dollars to allocate, and we are not, we are not there yet at all. We have skipped right now to 24 almost $25,000 out of our hot grant funds this year. So we still have 75,000 to allocate for this year," Paul said.

Staff reviewed a slate of spring and early-summer programming that tourism staff asked board members and hotel partners to promote to guests. Items noted in the packet and discussed at the meeting included a realtor breakfast on May 7, a nonprofit expo next Saturday with public-safety demonstrations (DPS helicopter, K-9 unit, bomb squad and SWAT), a community fair on April 10 celebrating National Crime Victims— Week, and an upcoming art exhibit in the Civic Center lobby featuring Dickinson ISD students.

Staff also previewed an artist-in-residence selection process that will narrow 16 applicants to three; selected artists are expected to begin orientation and programming in May. A new mural is scheduled to begin painting in April at a plaza near Main Street, and staff said a decorative League City logo wall is planned for the I-45 feeder road near Discount Tire.

Staff distributed preliminary hotel performance figures and noted January hotel performance was down compared with past years (January is typically slower). Paul said quarterly collections were being tallied and that an updated performance report will follow.

Communications staff also reported recent work on a spring marketing campaign, the city—s pursuit of a Texas Music Office music-friendly certification (staff said the city had applied and expected a certification announcement tied to an April 26 event), rain-barrel sales, a dining and shopping guide in the city app and outreach to area museums. Staff asked board members to help promote museum visits and other attractions to hotel guests.

Board members and staff discussed logistics for distributing museum tickets at front desks and the constraints some hotels face because of brand standards limiting materials at counters. Staff offered to meet with front-desk teams or host a familiarization ("fam") trip and suggested a hotel-staff open house at the museum to encourage recommendations to guests.

Paul and others encouraged board members to plan for additional HOT grant applications later in the year, including a possible request from the Patrons of Parks and Arts for a multi-activity grant to support a children—s activity zone. Staff emphasized the board has available funds and asked members to consider outreach and grant opportunities that generate a return on investment for tourism promotion.