World Series, Austin’s music festival and a State Fair: Abbott dotes on Texas tourism

There’s no doubt that Lone Star State is a prime tourism state.
Just look at the last few weeks of major events held from Dallas Cowboys games to the Austin City Limits Music Festival and even the Texas State Fair coming to a close this weekend.
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Gov. Greg Abbott spoke in a fireside chat held in Fort Worth at the American Airlines headquarters Tuesday. Moderated by Geoff Freeman, CEO and president of the U.S. Travel Association, the two discussed Texas’ booming economy fueled by Texas’ “everything’s bigger” attitude. Last year, he said, over 470,000 people moved to Texas from another state.
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“Businesses don’t relocate without someone visiting first,” Abbott told attendees. “People don’t buy a second home without visiting first. Travel is really that incubator of other spending that happens. You’ve seen a lot of that spending right here in Texas.”
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Abbott explained the state is growing at a rate where its difficult to find a place to stay because of how busy hotels are hosting various events happening at the same time. But the events bring in major dollars to the economy. According to Abbott, Formula 1 in Austin injects about $1 billion into the Austin economy alone because of travel and tourism. He said half a billion was added into Austin County because of the two-week music festival, Austin City Limits.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom introduces Gov. Greg Abbott before a a fireside chat with U.S. Travel president and CEO Geoff Freeman at American Airlines headquarters, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Fort Worth. (Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
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He also pointed to the growth in North Texas, like the relocation of the PGA headquarters to Frisco and opened a new headquarters in 2022. That eventually led to the massive Omni PGA Frisco Resort.
Abbott reiterated that Texas is built for just about all of the major entertainment experiences imaginable, just maybe not the Winter Olympics. The state is naturally accustomed to high demand and big venue events, he said.
“Texas has always been a huge entertainment center,” Abbott said. “There were different people — before Taylor Swift, there was Willie Nelson.”