World Report

The industry is flying the flag for a wealth of attractions that embrace everything from country dancing to space flight

exas is America’s second most popular tourist destination. Last year some 177 million people went to the state, many of them combining their visit with a quick trip across the border to Mexico.
Tourism is Texas’s third major income earner and the authorities are anxious that it continues to provide revenues.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and subsequent events have caused a severe downturn in travel, but the tourist authorities have been working flat out to redress the situation. Last month the Texas Economic Development Tourism Division, the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) and travel industry leaders held the annual National Tour Association (NTA) conference in Houston – the first time it had been held in the state since 1994.


Something for everyone: the rough and tumble of ice hockey and bronco-busting to the gentility of ‘the boating capital of Texas’, the state boasts an overwhelming array of distractions

More than 1,500 North American tourism representatives attended and many went on arranged tours to discover the local attractions, with themes such as the Wild, Wild West, golfing, cuisine, culture, historical sites and Texas’s presidential legacy. Throw in armadillo racing, major league baseball, country and western singing and dancing, and it was inevitable that they would come away from the conference determined to jolt the industry back into action.
There are, of course, hard economic reasons for all this. Direct travel spending in Texas from both domestic and international visitors generated more than $40 billion last year, an increase of 10 per cent on 1999. This generated more than $5.9 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments. Without this tax revenue, each Texan household would have to pay an average of $792 in added taxes to maintain government services.

Texas is also known for its contribution to space exploration. Once a cow pasture, the Johnson Space Center (JSC), about 25 miles southeast of Houston, is NASA’s gateway to space. From the Mercury project to Gemini and the Apollo moon landings, the JSC’s work has culminated in the space shuttle and international space station. Each year (generally in August), the centre offers the public a free ‘behind the scenes’ look at the space programme.
Throughout the year, the JSC sponsors special events where visitors can watch human spaceflight activities, the return of shuttle crews and launch presentations. One of the flight control rooms of the JSC Mission Control Center has been designated a national historic monument.
The NASA area is in the part of greater Houston known as Clear Lake City, which has plenty of hotels, motels and restaurants. Clear Lake, ‘the boating capital of Texas’, is a pleasant place to stay and you may be lucky enough to witness a space shuttle launch.

About 25 miles southwest of Houston is the George Ranch Historical Park, a 480-acre piece of ‘living history’, where you can encounter life in the early 19th century. Visitors can participate in hands-on activities such as corn-grinding and cotton-spinning, or simply wander through the elegant Victorian mansion. The park is the centrepiece of a 23,000-acre working cattle ranch, where you can watch cowboys rope cattle or even take part yourself.
For those people interested in early American history, Houston’s Bayou Bend
Collection is one of the nation’s premier museums of furniture, paintings, silver, ceramics, glass and textiles. The collection was built up by a wealthy spinster and is housed in a magnificent plantation-style house built in the 1920s.

On display are masterworks by prominent American artists like John Singleton Copley and Charles Willson Peale. Among the fine examples of silverware is a sugarbowl by the American patriot Paul Revere.
The state is best explored by car, but visitors should be prepared for long hours behind the wheel if they are planning to view all the top sites in the state or wish to make a side trip to Mexico. It takes more than a day to comfortably drive from east to west across the state.
The Texan coast on the Gulf of Mexico offers all that is needed for a classic US seaside holiday. Galveston Island is a popular centre, although it is worthwhile venturing further south to the Padre Island National Seashore.

It takes more than a day to cross the state by car

Galveston Island is a great place for families with children. You can soak up the sun at Palm Beach, where there are freshwater lagoons, waterfalls and – for the kids – a yellow submarine. And at Moody Gardens there is a rainforest pyramid with more than 1,700 species of tropical plants, fish, exotic birds and brilliant butterflies. The space discovery and aquarium pyramids will keep children amused for hours.
Although Austin is the capital of Texas, San Antonio gives a fuller flavour of the influences that have shaped Texan culture. The Institute of Texan Cultures in the city highlights 26 cultural and ethnic groups which have made their mark on the state, from British to Hispanic as well as native American.
From San Antonio, a drive across the plains and the Stockton plateau brings you to the Big Bend National Park, tucked into a corner of the border with Mexico. From there you could head on west to El Paso and enter Mexico itself.