Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Discover Little Elm wins inaugural ‘Tourism Friendly Texas’ certification; state cites $30 million in visitor spending
Summary
A Travel Texas representative presented a Tourism Friendly Texas certification to Discover Little Elm, noting the town generated $30 million in direct visitor spending in 2023 and encouraging further hotel and event development to grow the visitor economy.
Little Elm’s tourism office, Discover Little Elm, received a Tourism Friendly Texas community certification during Monday’s council meeting from a representative of the Office of the Governor’s Economic Development and Tourism Division (Travel Texas).
The state representative called the certification “a testament to the town's vision, leadership, and unwavering commitment to fostering a thriving visitor economy” and said Discover Little Elm was among the first 20 communities in Texas to earn the distinction.
The representative told council that visitors to Little Elm generated $30,000,000 in direct travel spending in 2023, producing more than $600,000 in local tax receipts. Travel Texas praised the town’s lakefront branding, event programming and partnership with the chamber; the state representative singled out the Brew & Q festival’s growth and ongoing efforts to recruit larger events such as a Christmas attraction and an Ironman-style race.
Discover Little Elm staff and the Travel Texas representative also discussed lodging capacity as a priority. The town recently opened a hotel near Little Elm Beach and Hydro Wake Park, which the state called an important step for unlocking tourism funding and future event recruitment. Travel Texas advised staff to pursue additional hotel partners and noted state resources such as the Texas Defense Economic Development Trust Fund as potential supports for event recruitment.
Why it matters: state certification and the cited visitor spending figures support the town’s efforts to expand its visitor economy and to justify additional investment in lodging and events as a way to increase local tax revenues and economic development.
Ending: Travel Texas encouraged continued engagement with state resources on marketing, event recruitment and data collection; council recognized Discover Little Elm and the chamber for their work.
Speakers included a Travel Texas representative (Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism Division) and Drew and the Discover Little Elm team (local tourism staff).
