National Travel & Tourism Week With Discover Temple

Established in 1982, National Travel and Tourism Week is an annual tradition to celebrate the U.S. travel community and travel’s essential role in stimulating economic growth, vibrant communities, creating quality job opportunities, and inspiring new businesses.

National Tourism Week is celebrated during the first week of May. This year’s theme “Moving Forward’ is in step with the forward motion and development of Temple’s downtown and other quality visitor product and experiences. Discover Temple will promote local campaigns, share blog posts that provide more opportunities for visitors to experience Temple, and share social media content to further show how remarkable our destination is. From Buc-ee's and Downtown Temple to 3 Texans Winery and Crossroads Park, Temple’s travel and tourism industry contributes greatly to our local economy and the spirit of our community. 

During this week we also celebrate the travel and tourism industry that strives to create memorable experiences, serves individuals and families, and the front-line staff responsible for the details in delivering high standards of hospitality and service.

In anticipation of National Tourism Week, the City of Temple’s Destination Marketing Team focused on the area’s assets and the opportunities to share the authentic Temple story.

The City of Temple’s Destination Marketing Team believes travel and tourism:

• Encourages self-care and the importance of indulging in leisure activities.
• Helps the economy – travel boosts the local economy and keeps restaurants, hotels, and other recreational services running.
• Highlights local cultures – helping the local community showcase local art, cultures, and heritage.

Tourism is important to Temple’s economy. Even without Florida’s beaches, Colorado’s snowy peaks, or Arizona’s vast canyon, Temple has unique and quality visitor experiences.

Thousands of visitors come to Temple from all over the country for medical treatments and appointments. They stay in hotels, dine and drink at restaurants and nightspots, and shop for gifts, groceries, gas, and an endless variety of items and services. Through overnight stays visiting family receiving treatment or visitors coming to receive treatment, Temple receives a great, positive impact on the local economy. 

“Our medical community is big and has a great impact on our destination, but people aren’t just coming to Temple for health reasons,” Teresa Anderson, Destination Marketing Manager for Discover Temple. “We have much to offer – the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center, the Cultural Activities Center, Crossroads Park, museums, and a distinctive and growing downtown.” 

“The city is investing in development, and they are focusing on the quality of life improvements that attract new people. Some come to visit while others come to live. With all of the construction, renovations, and new developments, the next 24 months will bring a lot of change,” said Anderson.

Temple is poised to attract more conventions and sports tournaments. With tournament-quality sports fields, practice fields, and sports facilities, Temple attracts regional and statewide leagues.

Following a recent Sports Marketing Strategy report, the Destination Marketing Team is collaborating with the Parks and Recreation Department to develop new sports marketing materials and messaging. The goal is to market Temple more aggressively to tournament organizers for softball, baseball, soccer, and disc golf.

The 2023 economic impact of visiting sports tournaments and groups utilizing Temple’s sports fields and facilities, and while overnighting in Temple’s hotels, is estimated to be $254,250.

Meetings, conventions, and tradeshows are an important component of Temple’s economy. Temple’s central location and its diverse range of industries- including healthcare, manufacturing, and technology- bring in valuable revenue, create jobs, and provide a platform for networking, knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Temple offers multiple meeting locations with the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center being the largest in the city with an 18,620 square foot Main Hall. The facility can be configured to offer multiple rooms and varying setups.

The city’s Destination Marketing Sales Team is focused on bringing meetings, conferences, tradeshows, and personal celebrations such as weddings to the area. For the fiscal year 2023, the estimated economic impact with groups overnighting in the area is estimated at $536,976.

Through Smith Travel Research, Discover Temple was able to see that in the first quarter of 2023 (January, February, and March), Temple experienced a 14% increase in hotel occupancy rates versus the same quarter of 2022. For our destination, February proved to see the highest hotel occupancy per month so far in 2023. Throughout the week, Tuesdays through Saturdays have the highest hotel occupancy rates. 

Overnight stays and hotel occupancy is a significant revenue-generating tool for the travel and tourism industry. With a 14% increase in the first quarter of 2023, Discover Temple looks forward to seeing what the future occupancy rates look like for the remainder of the year.

The travel and tourism industry continues to be a critical driver of the Texas economy. Travel is critical to powering our community and driving growth in our economy and our destination. The city’s new destination website has generated a 58.22% user increase in visitor traffic and a 1317% increase in visitor information requests. 

The Destination Team has also launched award-winning campaigns, promotions, and marketing tools.

The department’s Discover YOUR Temple campaign features ways local residents and the visiting public can share their experiences through social media and the destination website. #DiscoverYourTemple

A digital electronic publication, The Temple Ticket, gives visitors an opportunity to discover what Temple has in a brand-new way. The Temple Ticket enhances how visitors experience Temple by providing a fun, engaging way to learn more about events, things to do, family fun, and local attractions.

When it comes to travel spending and the impact it has on the destination, Temple's total direct travel spending reached significant numbers in 2022. Visitors to Temple generated over $179 million in direct travel spending – the largest amount ever amassed for the city of Temple. 

People are traveling more each year since the recent COVID-19 pandemic. While travel sentiment research shows that inflation, gas prices, and other economic factors will have an inevitable impact on travel, Americans are still prioritizing leisure travel and want to spend their time wisely visiting new and unique destinations such as Temple. Many Americans report having three planned trips this year on average. 

Now is the time to Discover Temple.