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Well tourism is hard to rank because neither is a tourist destination. The millions of visitors attracted to each is almost entirely business related. As great as the shopping in Houston and Dallas are, these cater almost entirely to the affluent that already live here or near. Houston’s shopping is well marketed to the affluent in Mexico and Central America but that’s about as far as the upscale shopping marketing goes outside and this is mostly just due proximity. NYC, LA, Miami and Vegas are the only places that get high levels of shopping specific tourism.
Houston lucked up and got a media boost with hip hop. Being the most popular music genre in the world, it was pure luck. I know your often mention the “low hanging fruit” effect which was implemented in this regard. There were efforts in the past during the 2000s to use this as a marketing but they didn’t do much at all. Johnny Dang’s jewelry company is perhaps the only major media boost I can think of that sustained and grew out of Houston hip hop. The first two MAJOR level boosts are the ones underway now with Astroworld Fest and the new Nickelodeon show with Lay Lay. As a multi-day fest with 100K+ capacity that sells out instantly and has a global audience, these are good signs but their long term effects will be interesting as it grows. Thankfully, there’s signs that the city and county are partnering with the event. They recently did a ticket giveaway for COVID shot users. If they’re serious about getting a marketing plan going, they have a once in a lifetime opportunity to take advantage. Atlanta most obviously got a big boost from this. Let it be known these things can have a counter effect though (see Chicago).
In my opinion, business marketing is what sets the two metros apart the most. As redlion pointed, Houston and DFW are the most similar and toe to toe rivalries of them all in the USA. LA-SF is also very even but those two metros are much more different from one another than Houston and DFW. The one rivalry that is about as even and similar as Houston-DFW is the 3 way Ohio city rivalry that’s the only I can think of. But like I said, business marketing seems to be the biggest differentiator. I’ve noticed Dallas getting most of the recent finance operations and Houston getting the energy and healthcare capital.
I do think there's a lot of effort to market both Houston and Dallas to tourists - but more regional as in within Texas and neighboring states. I think it's probably pretty accepted among tourism officials in both places that neither city is a national or international destination from a traditional tourism sense - there's no way to compete with San Antonio, New Orleans, or (lately) Austin. There is a lot to be gained financially, though, from having folks from the south-central U.S. come to your city for the weekend, for example - that's outsiders' $ being injected into the economy. And I have to think that "big glitzy Dallas" may resonate more (at least for Anglos, who still have most of the extra $ to spend) than "unique cultural mix of Houston" for that tourism audience.
Business / economic development wise, I fully agree that Dallas has mostly outmarketed Houston except for energy and health care. Outside of group travel / conventions though, I don't think most business travel is marketing-driven, it's just need-driven. Economic development - business and capital attraction - is different and definitely subject to the perspective you have cited. The perception of "quality family environment" plays big in that arena.
I do think there's a lot of effort to market both Houston and Dallas to tourists - but more regional as in within Texas and neighboring states. I think it's probably pretty accepted among tourism officials in both places that neither city is a national or international destination from a traditional tourism sense - there's no way to compete with San Antonio, New Orleans, or (lately) Austin. There is a lot to be gained financially, though, from having folks from the south-central U.S. come to your city for the weekend, for example - that's outsiders' $ being injected into the economy. And I have to think that "big glitzy Dallas" may resonate more (at least for Anglos, who still have most of the extra $ to spend) than "unique cultural mix of Houston" for that tourism audience.
Business / economic development wise, I fully agree that Dallas has mostly outmarketed Houston except for energy and health care. Outside of group travel / conventions though, I don't think most business travel is marketing-driven, it's just need-driven. Economic development - business and capital attraction - is different and definitely subject to the perspective you have cited. The perception of "quality family environment" plays big in that arena.
I don’t agree at all with the bolded. I agree with your statements on Houston and DFW being primarily regional outposts rather than national destinations. But I don’t agree on the unique experience being a negative for tourism in comparison. And unfortunately, I can’t prove you wrong because with the fact that most of both metro’s visitors are primarily business travelers, the data is tailor made to show an entirely different category of travelers.
There’s one thing I’m surprised no one mentions when they speak on how Austin and San Antonio get more Texas visitors than Houston and Dallas. Which are the biggest population magnets? Houston and Dallas of course. Both Houston and Dallas alone have a higher population than the combined “San Austino”. Houston and Dallas are the ones supplying the population of visitors so they can’t receive them. And the reason they generally go to CenTex is because people are more likely to travel somewhere different.
When I said Dallas has been getting the finance expansions, I was being specific there. The only industries they seem completely lopsided are Finance and IT (where Dallas gets the bigger pull) and Energy, A&D and Healthcare (where Houston get the bigger pull). The rest vary. Yes, I left out industries like airlines (which obviously Dallas gets the nod) but I only mentioned industries that are either growing or evolving. Interestingly, the fields where Houston excel require more engineering while the ones where Dallas excel require more analytic jobs. But it should also be noted that even in fields where where one outnumbers the other, there’s a healthy level of industry regardless. But general speaking, an aerospace company like Honeywell chooses Houston while a finance company like Goldman Sachs will choose Dallas to expand. But there’s notable exceptions and I’m glad there are. Academy Sports + Outdoors for example was the only Texas based retailer that got through the pandemic strong. That’s why they’re now F500 and went public.
Houston has potential to draw non-regional tourists through the side door, so to speak, if it is able to siphon off some Galveston-bound cruise tourists flying into and out of Houston as part of their cruise itinerary. If it has enough, and can effectively market, its attractions, perhaps some of those tourists may decide to spend a few days pre- or post-cruise to extend their vacations.
All depends on the Covid-19 (and any future pandemic) situation, of course.
Currently, Astroworld Fest is Houston’s greatest potential pull to market a tourism boost. Just one event? Sure. But an annual event multi day that attracts 100K global visitors generally in the teens and 20-something crowd and sells out instantly. In the heights of ACL, this was a boost for Austin (and ACL has half the daily capacity)
I don’t agree at all with the bolded. I agree with your statements on Houston and DFW being primarily regional outposts rather than national destinations. But I don’t agree on the unique experience being a negative for tourism in comparison. And unfortunately, I can’t prove you wrong because with the fact that most of both metro’s visitors are primarily business travelers, the data is tailor made to show an entirely different category of travelers.
There’s one thing I’m surprised no one mentions when they speak on how Austin and San Antonio get more Texas visitors than Houston and Dallas. Which are the biggest population magnets? Houston and Dallas of course. Both Houston and Dallas alone have a higher population than the combined “San Austino”. Houston and Dallas are the ones supplying the population of visitors so they can’t receive them. And the reason they generally go to CenTex is because people are more likely to travel somewhere different.
When I said Dallas has been getting the finance expansions, I was being specific there. The only industries they seem completely lopsided are Finance and IT (where Dallas gets the bigger pull) and Energy, A&D and Healthcare (where Houston get the bigger pull). The rest vary. Yes, I left out industries like airlines (which obviously Dallas gets the nod) but I only mentioned industries that are either growing or evolving. Interestingly, the fields where Houston excel require more engineering while the ones where Dallas excel require more analytic jobs. But it should also be noted that even in fields where where one outnumbers the other, there’s a healthy level of industry regardless. But general speaking, an aerospace company like Honeywell chooses Houston while a finance company like Goldman Sachs will choose Dallas to expand. But there’s notable exceptions and I’m glad there are. Academy Sports + Outdoors for example was the only Texas based retailer that got through the pandemic strong. That’s why they’re now F500 and went public.
I fully agree that leisure tourism is a much smaller share of total tourism than business travel for both cities. That doesn't stop the attempts to market each place for leisure travel though, at least regionally.
I bet you're right that a large share of San Antonio and Austin leisure tourism is from DFW and Houston. They're probably also major source markets for New Orleans leisure visitation. But is there really any question that all three cities outclass Dallas and Houston for leisure travel attraction? Not that they necessarily should, of course, but they've managed to do so anyway.
Regardless, I think Houston should do more to promote itself as having high quality suburbs for raising families. While The Woodlands seems fairly well known, the rest of our suburbs seem pretty under the radar, even Sugar Land, especially as compared to the northern suburbs of DFW. This perceived (and seemingly growing) disparity in quality perception is an economic development issue. While there are some definite strengths to several DFW suburbs, most notably efforts to construct walkable town centers, I don't think the difference in perception is justified.
I understand the connection, but I wouldn’t group New Orleans here. Yes, they have a HUGE amount of visitors from Texas. But they also have a huge amount of leisure visitors nationally and internationally. New Orleans is simply on another level when it comes to attracting leisure travelers.
New Orleans and Austin are models of how festivals can boost a city’s tourism. This is why I’m glad the city has partnered with Astroworld and hope the partnership grows. Yes, Houston has the Rodeo but that’s an event made for locals rather than music festivals that attract people from all over (especially in their younger years where the images stick longer)
Last edited by ParaguaneroSwag; 08-09-2021 at 02:43 PM..
I understand the connection, but I wouldn’t group New Orleans here. Yes, they have a HUGE amount of visitors from Texas. But they also have a huge amount of leisure visitors nationally and internationally. New Orleans is simply on another level when it comes to attracting leisure travelers.
New Orleans and Austin are models of how festivals can boost a city’s tourism. This is why I’m glad the city has partnered with Astroworld and hope the partnership grows. Yes, Houston has the Rodeo but that’s an event made for locals rather than music festivals that attract people from all over (especially in their younger years where the images stick longer)
I hope this plays out like that. Not that I want to become a "festival city", but having one autumn event (Astroworld) and one non-Rodeo spring festival (or maybe a winter festival instead?) with national draws would be good. Especially a non-music festival, or a multi-experience festival.
True New Orleans is on another level, but I wouldn't be surprised if an enormous share of its visitation comes from DFW / Houston / Atlanta. I mentioned it because it competes so strongly for regional weekend trip sorts of tourism in the south central U.S., similar appeal to San Antonio and Austin in that regard for that audience. And for conventions, Houston was for decades in the shadows of San Antonio and New Orleans, though I think that has finally changed.
I hope this plays out like that. Not that I want to become a "festival city", but having one autumn event (Astroworld) and one non-Rodeo spring festival (or maybe a winter festival instead?) with national draws would be good. Especially a non-music festival, or a multi-experience festival.
True New Orleans is on another level, but I wouldn't be surprised if an enormous share of its visitation comes from DFW / Houston / Atlanta. I mentioned it because it competes so strongly for regional weekend trip sorts of tourism in the south central U.S., similar appeal to San Antonio and Austin in that regard for that audience. And for conventions, Houston was for decades in the shadows of San Antonio and New Orleans, though I think that has finally changed.
This is exactly what they tried to do with In Bloom and Day For Night. But they never caught on. lineups were ok but they didn’t get any major hype. Relatively small attendance (10-15K) and struggled to sell out. Astro has 100K in daily attendance and took a mere 15 minutes to sell out even without a lineup out and for a MUCH higher price. Hope this puts the difference in level of hype the two events in perspective.
This is exactly what they tried to do with In Bloom and Day For Night. But they never caught on. lineups were ok but they didn’t get any major hype. Relatively small attendance and struggled to sell out. Astro has 100K in daily attendance and took a mere 15 minutes to sell out even without a lineup out. Hope this puts the difference in level of hype the two events in perspective.
Right, understood. I'd just like to see a festival that isn't only music - look at what SXSW became. Appeal to a broader audience, including some older folks that have lots of $ to spend.
Maybe an event revolving around the bayous, which is a characteristic feature of Houston. Bayou to Bay something or other. Multi-day event, coupled with a food festival.
We already have a regatta on Buffalo Bayou and various ethnic cultural+food events throughout the year, so maybe combine the two within a short time span.
We once sat next to some folks from San Francisco at a downtown restaurant who had flown into Houston specifically to run the Houston Marathon. I overheard them complement Houston’s Discovery Green area.
So maybe have a combo multi-sport endurance race + food festival. Any sporting event in August will test anyone’s endurance and it would coincide with HRW. Or add some events to the Houston Marathon to make it a multi-day event.
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