What’s Up? Video: Summer events will have a substantial impact on our local economy

Grace Hallowell:

What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell, and today I’m joined with Jo Beth Wolfe, our sales manager over at Visit College Station. Hi, Jo Beth.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Hi, Grace. Thanks for having me.

Grace Hallowell:

You’re welcome. I’m excited to have y’all here. I know it’s been a minute since Visit has been on the show. I think it’s been since Christmas. We have a ton of exciting things to cover today pertaining to sports tourism. So, let’s start off with what is sports tourism and what do you guys do in that area?

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Well, and that makes sense that the last time we were here was in December because we had a big program to execute at that time, and now we have another big stretch ahead of us from May through August. We’re going to see a lot of visitors in town participating in different types of tournaments. Primarily youth athletes will be here, and so when you’re out to eat, you are going to see a ton of jerseys.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Or when you stop by Target, you should see plenty of visitors in between the different tournaments that are taking place, primarily out at Veterans Park this summer.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes, and that’s something that you typically wouldn’t think oh yeah, there’s a sports tournament, but they are staying here in our community. They’re eating at our restaurants. They’re shopping at our stores, which is great.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

That’s right. So they make a really big economic impact in our community that is long-standing.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

So,  we are really intent on welcoming them here every summer and then throughout the year, but primarily in the summer, we’re estimated to see about 38,000 visitors come in from sports tournaments over a 10-week period from the end of May till the end of August.

Grace Hallowell:

Wow. That’s a lot.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Yeah, we’re really excited. We want to make sure that they’re having great events while they’re here and that they feel like College Station is the place that they need to host this tournament, so that they continue to return year over year. We can help those tournaments grow in size and scope, and that just is better for our community. It keeps people employed, it keeps our restaurants open and our town busy so that we have a great quality of life throughout the year.

Grace Hallowell:

Absolutely. Yes. So, the tournaments have kind of already started last week, and they’re continuing all the way through August, like you mentioned, and solidly through June as well. So, what type of tournaments do we have going on?

Jo Beth Wolfe:

We see a lot of softball and soccer, and then 7v7 youth football. We could not do this without the Parks and Recreation department.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. They do a lot of work with you guys.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Yeah. They are out there every weekend in those 100 degree temperatures and throughout the week prepping the fields, getting everything ready, putting out equipment, picking it back up. So I mean, hats off to them for making these events happen.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. It’s a shared effort between you guys and Parks and Rec to make sure everything is in working order and all the bases are covered.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Yes, because we want people to have a great experience while they’re here. We feel like our community is great in the fact that it’s very centrally located.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

So, it’s easy to get to, feels very safe for people. Our visitors tell us time and time again that they like to be here. So partnering together to make sure that these events occur and that they’re successful is really our number one mission. We have one person on our team who’s fully dedicated to servicing the events, another person whose mission is to go out and meet new clients, to bring in new events, and then a whole slew of interns that are out there taking care of business day of weeks leading up to it.

But we’re always looking for more volunteers. So, if people want to get involved in these tournaments over the summer, please reach out to us and we’ll connect you and we’ll get you some good experience to learn from these events.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. Great opportunity for sports lovers and economic development or business lovers as well. If there’s anybody watching who would like to bring a tournament to College Station, how do they go about doing that?

Jo Beth Wolfe:

You’d reach out to our office at Visit College Station. We actually just moved over here to be closer to city hall.

Grace Hallowell:

Brand new neighbors.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Yeah, that’s right. So Hannah Burkig in our office, she’s our sports sales coordinator. She would be more than happy to help facilitate that if someone’s looking to bring a tournament to College Station.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. Absolutely. Well, what else can you share about sports tourism specifically in College Station?

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Man, it’s really going to heat up this summer.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

I think this summer’s going to blow by before we know it and we’ll be back in school and it’ll be time for more Aggie football.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

So we are just really excited about everything that we’ll get to experience related to the tournaments this summer. We also will have events take place during the week, primarily conferences, so it’s just pretty much nonstop. Over those three months of the summer, we’re going to see about another 8,000 to 10,000 people come in for continuing education events, seminars and competitions.

Grace Hallowell:

Busy, busy, busy.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Yeah. I think that’s the key.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes. Well, growth is always a great thing and we welcome all the newcomers to College Station. We love seeing you here, and we hope that everybody who is coming enjoys themselves, has a good time and the residents intermingle with them as well. If anybody has questions, where can they go to find out more?

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Go to visit.cstx.gov. That’s our website. Follow us on social media or give us a call. In the next couple months, we’ll have our visitor center up and running.

Grace Hallowell:

Yes.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

So, we welcome visitors to come in and get oriented into the community. We will have information readily available, as well as our very friendly staff to help answer questions and help guide them while they’re here in town.

Grace Hallowell:

Perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Jo Beth.

Jo Beth Wolfe:

Thanks for having me.

Grace Hallowell:

You’re welcome. And that’s what’s up.

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