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A proactive position throughout the pandemic has landed Houston with a bumper H2 2021 of in-person events, a suite of brand-new attractions, and high hopes for the future of meetings and conventions in the city.
Houston First Corporation
“Our message for a while now has been that Houston is open for service,” said Michael Heckman, acting president and CEO of Houston First Corporation. “We’ve had the ability to stabilize public health, while also being able to move the city forward. We see an increased desire not just for leisure travel, but likewise for convention organization.”
Indeed, Houston has handled to continue hosting occasions through some of the most difficult times of Covid-19, through a mix of fortune, preparation, and investment. Through industry-wide efforts such as Houston Clean– whereby hotels, attractions, and public areas across the city devoted to enhanced health preventative measures– and the brand-new integrated viral protection system at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston was among the most safe locations in the nation to continue holding occasions. Further, the city looked for GBAC STAR cleaning, disinfection, and viral contagion accreditation for lots of areas and installed a brand-new virtual studio at the convention center to allow new hybrid occasions.
“We’ve currently shown our ability to host events throughout the pandemic,” stated Heckman, expecting the record-breaking occasions season the city has in store for the second half of 2021. “Already we’ll be post-pandemic, and still an excellent location for meetings, conventions, and events.”
The city has a lineup of 39 events with presence over 1,000, including 17 city-wide occasions. On top of all this, the city has seen major growth in its destinations, a number of which are recently opened or scheduled for opening through the rest of 2021 into 2022.
NEW DESTINATIONS TO ASSISTANCE THE MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS MARKET
Many brand-new destinations are calling– or will soon call– Houston house, which is all a part of the strategy of bringing major events and conventions to the city. While occasions might be able to take place anywhere, the destinations of a destination are what truly lure guests. From the Houston Botanic Garden, which opened in September 2020, to the upcoming launch of Bloom Hotel, due to open in 2021, Houston is including more unique tourist attractions, places, and icons to the city.
Bloom Hotel will open in 2021. “They bring more tools to our toolbox and more benefits to meeting in Houston, like the ease of navigating, the number of hotel spaces that we have, and the brand-new attractions that will benefit conventioneers and conference guests,” stated Heckman. “It just continues to add to the appeal that we have in Houston as a conference location.”
3 of the most extremely prepared for of those brand-new tourist attractions have actually remained in planning for a long time.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON: THE NANCY AND RICH KINDER STRUCTURE
This is the largest cultural building and construction job in the city in a decade. The $476 million task opened in November 2020 and is dedicated to the museum’s global collections of modern art. Said Heckman: “It is a massive addition to our museum district which was currently first-class. The expansion to the Museum of Arts, Houston, is a stunning addition.”
THE ION
A brand-new multipurpose center called The Ion opened in March 2021. It intends to support innovation, development, and collaboration in between service, academic community, and neighborhood to resolve huge issues. “It’s concentrated on start-ups around innovation and is a really cool space,” stated Heckman. “It will spur advancement all around that area in Midtown. Rice University owns and has actually established it, and has a variety of acres around it also.”
POST HTX
Opening in the old Barbara Jordan United States Post Office in the Houston Theater District, POST HTX will host a variety of amenities in the building, within easy strolling range of a range of attractions, in addition to downtown and Town hall.
POST HTX will host a variety of facilities and is
set to open in Fall 2021.”It will combine a varied number of tourist attractions all under one roofing,” stated Heckman. “Along with flexible co-working spaces, bars, and restaurants, it will have live music, a food court, and a sky lawn with remarkable views of downtown.” POST HTX is slated to open in the fall of 2021.
CONTINUING THE BUMPER EVENTS LINEUP BEYOND 2021
Much of the significant occasions planned for H2 2021 in Houston have been moved into that half of the year due to take a trip restrictions or hesitancy from attendees. However sustained growth is in the plans for Houston.
“Instead of crawling within our shell [during the pandemic], we put in the time to be tactical and aggressive,” said Heckman. “We understood there was a chance for us to grow and take market share, and the opportunity to introduce more individuals to Houston. And we have actually seen that come through with the relocations of conventions to the city. We were arranged and thoughtful about how we approached this, so we could be forward-leaning and the very first to come out of this.”
The city has needed to decline the hosting of some events in the second half of 2021 due to lack of capacity, however takes this as a good sign for the future.
“We’re really focused on our future pace,” stated Heckman. “Houston locations and organizers are having more discussions they haven’t had the chance to have before, and Houston First is confident for more conventions, conferences, and occasions to come to the city.”
He concludes: “Our company believe in the near term that organizers are going to move past 2021, start looking down the road again, and booking at what is more of a regular speed. “We’ve utilized this chance to reconnect with brand-new prospects or existing customers as we’ve firmed up 2021, and likewise to look to the future.”
This material was developed collaboratively by Houston First Corporation and Skift’s branded material studio, SkiftX.
Hero image: Kat Ambrose