Texas spending nearly $100K to promote Gonzales tourism

The state of Texas is spending nearly $100,000 in federal economic development grant funds to promote tourism to Gonzales as part of a new $12 million cooperative advertising program through Travel Texas.

From May 2022 through August 2022, Travel Texas will be spending nearly $58,000 to promote the Gonzales Convention & Visitors Bureau and nearly $40,000 to promote the Crystal Theater in Gonzales, with the cost being covered under a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Agency.

“There was a $12 million grant coming down to the state of Texas for recovery from COVID for qualifying tourism organizations,” said Barbara Crozier, vice president of the Crystal Theater Board of Directors and Gonzales CVB board member.

“The CVB automatically qualified and I also sent in a grant application for the Crystal because we qualified as well due to the parameters. And believe it or not, I actually got both of them.”

Among the things the grant is paying for are program banners which pop up on websites and redirect visitors to the Gonzales CVB and to the Crystal Theatre.

“I do know that tourism has been paying for those for years,” Crozier said. “And they're pretty pricey, because they do get a lot of foot traffic. They pop up in stories that had something to do with what you're reading about.”

The funds were also used to create Culture Maps for both the CVB and Crystal as well as 15-second videos that encapsulate the Gonzales Come and Take It Festival and the Shakespeare Young Ninjas program at the Crystal Theater.

The U.S. Economic Development Agency tourism grant is part of a push to promote Texas and destination market organizations “to encourage recovery within the leisure and hospitality sector following the impact of the pandemic on travel,” according to Travel Texas.

Travel Texas’ mission is to enhance and extend local economic development efforts by marketing Texas as a premier travel destination in out-of-state domestic and international markets, generating non-Texan travel to the state, thereby creating revenue and jobs. It is located within the Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism division.