Austin’s convention center business is on ice until 2029, but local tourism officials are getting creative to keep heads in beds while the city’s downtown anchor is rebuilt.
The old Austin Convention Center closed earlier this year and has already been razed. Work is underway on a larger venue with 70 percent more rentable space, though it won’t be ready for the crucial spring festival season for another five years. The Austin Business Journal reported that the missing center is already denting hotel performance, with double-digit, year-over-year revenue drops for many downtown properties. In prior years, group and business travelers could make up nearly half of bookings at some hotels, leaving a noticeable gap during the long construction window.
To plug it, Visit Austin is rolling out a huge, multifaceted marketing push. The new Tourism Public Improvement District — a 2 percent nightly fee on most hotel rooms — is expected to generate almost $30 million next year, funding incentives, sales support and aggressive marketing meant to counterbalance the convention void.
Thirty percent of the pot is earmarked for advertising, and another 30 percent for sales strategies, while 20 percent is set aside for convention-related incentives despite the center’s closure.
The spending campaign is expected to help the agency shift from seasonal ads to year-round campaigns in more markets, pitching Austin as a meeting-friendly “campus” instead of a single-site hub. Visit Austin leaders told the outlet that the city still offers deep event capacity between downtown hotels, unexpected venues and distributed meeting space. They’ve leaned into a strategy of “mini-wide” bookings — spreading conferences across multiple properties — and have already secured 37 such events for 2026 to 2028.
Leisure travel is getting a heavier lift too. TPID dollars are helping the agency expand advertising in both drive and fly markets, including new pushes in Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Monterrey, Mexico. Mexican travelers have become a particular priority, with early returns strong, as Austin gains visibility as an alternative to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Visit Austin is also trying to regain digital visibility after noticing traffic losses tied to the rise of AI trip planning. It launched a redesigned website this fall tailored to both human visitors and generative AI, aiming to make website information more accessible and visible to AI searches.
Tourism officials say early indicators point toward a steadier 2026, bolstered by ACL Fest, a strong SXSW outlook and expected spillover from World Cup matches in nearby host cities.
— Eric Weilbacher
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