2 min read June 2023 — The Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) markets and develops the city as a premier sports, business and leisure entertainment destination. Invest: spoke with President and CEO Brent DeRaad about the Bureau’s recent highlights and the priorities for the ACVB going forward.
What are some highlights for the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau from the past year?
We landed the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game that will take place in Arlington at Globe Life Field in July 2024. It was a special treat for us to partner with the Texas Rangers, our hometown Major League Baseball team, on that endeavor. Arlington’s AT&T Stadium will serve as the venue for multiple FIFA World Cup matches in 2026. To have the top soccer events in the world coming into Arlington is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our city to international audiences. The 2030 NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four will be held at our AT&T Stadium in partnership with the Dallas Cowboys and the City of Arlington. We’re also proud to announce that we’ve begun booking meetings into the new Loews Arlington Hotel. This hotel has 888 rooms and 215,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. It will open in February 2024 and be connected to the 300-room Live! by Loews Hotel through a sky bridge.
What impact do you anticipate this new development will have on ACVB?
Being able to bring on board the Loews Arlington will enable us to host much larger events and meetings. This gives us the ability to target meeting groups and citywide business events with up to 2,000 delegates, which will allow us to utilize Arlington’s other full-service hotels—such as Crowne Plaza Suites Arlington, Hilton Arlington, DoubleTree Hilton and Sheraton Arlington Hotel
How would you characterize the social and economic impact of the convention and visitors subsector on DFWs tourism industry?
Our 2022 Visitors Study shows that from 2021 to 2022, the number of visitors grew by 1 million and hotel room revenue grew roughly 20%. We’re seeing continued growth in 2023. Tourism and hospitality not only create local jobs but also contribute to the tax base through lodging taxes and sales taxes. This helps us underwrite many services that benefit Arlington residents and businesses, including police, fire, water, waste management and more. The stadiums, including AT&T, Globe Life and Choctaw Stadiums, along with the Texas Live! Entertainment Complex represents a terrific complex with different attributes and puts Arlington at the heart of activity throughout the Dallas metroplex.
What industries are driving convention demand?
Texas association meetings have always been important to Arlington hotels and venues, as has SMERF (Societal, Military, Education, Religious and Fraternal) business. Sports events and groups have led the way for Arlington in recent years and we see that continuing. As Arlington grows, we will focus more heavily on corporate groups throughout the U.S., while more aggressively pursuing pharmaceutical and financial meetings.
How is the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau planning to leverage the momentum this region is experiencing?
Our goal is to contribute to the enhancement of the quality of life in Arlington. We believe great places to live are also great places to visit. We’re fortunate to have a progressive city that brings in the companies and stadiums necessary to facilitate Arlington’s growth. Arlington has strong infrastructure, is a safe place to live and a great place to do business. We’re only as strong as the product we have to sell. Our Arlington product is continually getting stronger and will continue to grow in the next 10 to 15 years in terms of the size and scope of investments in tourism. We’re committed to doing everything that we can to generate revenue for the city, along with its residents and businesses.
Do you have any collaboration efforts to push forward ACVB’s mission and goals?
Collaboration is at the core of everything we do at the Arlington CVB. We work very closely with the City of Arlington, the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Arlington on different city projects, issues and initiatives, including issues related to future infrastructure. We look at all those aspects on an ongoing basis. The City of Arlington, including City Manager Trey Yelverton and the Mayor and City Council, provides the vision for all of us. From a tourism perspective, our collaboration extends to working closely with DMOs throughout the Dallas metroplex. For instance, in preparation for the FIFA World Cup, Arlington will work hand in hand with Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco and other cities in the metroplex. We aim to take full advantage of this opportunity to showcase the Dallas metroplex to the world.
What challenges and opportunities do you see on the horizon for tourism in DFW?
A significant portion of our business depends on the overall economy. However, based on the caliber of events and activities that we have in place in the Dallas metroplex and specifically in Arlington, we can weather that better than other parts of the country. For example, we have eight Dallas Cowboys home games scheduled for this fall. I fully anticipate that regardless of the state of the economy, we’ll have full stadiums for all eight games. The question mark for us is corporate and international travel. On international travel, there are still visa waiver issues in many countries where interview wait times can be a year or longer. Corporate had been a big source of revenue and room nights for us. We’re compensating for this in different ways with more leisure travel. If corporate and international travel comes back fully, then we can expect a robust future for the next two to five years.
What’s your outlook for the tourism industry in the region and how does this outlook inform the priorities of Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau?
We’re thrilled about the upcoming opening of the National Medal of Honor Museum in early 2025, which pays tribute to more than 3,000 Medal of Honor recipients. We are also excited about the developments on the arts and culture front. Our Arlington Museum of Art will move into the Arlington Expo Center, reopening in early 2024. The larger venue gives us the opportunity to host more traveling exhibitions. Even in its current state, the museum is hosting the Taylor Swift Eras Tour Collection. Moreover, Six Flags Over Texas has recently unveiled its first water coaster, the Aquaman Power Wave. These events, concerts and new additions contribute to the continuous growth and evolution of the Arlington tourism product.
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