This Just In: Austin Press Releases

Budget Travel recently completed its 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards, the magazine’s first-annual celebration of readers’ favorite companies and destinations. Austin earned the most votes as the city with readers’ favorite local music scene, with Athens (GA), Memphis, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago following close behind.  (more)

Austin is a 24-hour town populated by an upstart mix of musicians, tech experts, film pros, athletes and foodies – and our yearly events calendar shows it. The Austin Marathon draws 11,000 runners from around the world. The inaugural Austin Food + Wine Festival is slated to welcome visitors from across the nation and showcase the best innovative cuisine. Fun Fun Fun Fest is known as the nation’s best underground punk and alternative music festival; and Fantastic Fest, which features sci-fi, horror, fantasy and other genre films, has become a favorite of film buffs and celebrities alike. SXSW expands this year with StyleX, an affiliated fashion segment, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival will once again welcome 70,000 fans per day to Zilker Park for performances by more than 100 bands. For more information, contact the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau at 866-GO-AUSTIN or www.austintexas.org. All listed events are subject to change.  (more)

Two newly completed research studies commissioned by the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (Austin CVB) detail the benefits of tourism to the city and present a new profile of the typical Austin visitor. The studies were ordered to better understand who is visiting, what drew them to the city, what the economic benefits of tourism are, and how the Bureau can improve its marketing efforts to diversify and expand the number of visitors that travel to Austin annually. As the City of Austin’s contracted tourism marketing organization, the Austin CVB is charged with researching and reporting visitor trends, and identifying opportunities to improve the visitor experience.  (more)

The Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL Festival) celebrates its 10th anniversary, Sept. 16-18, 2011. According to a study conducted by Angelou Economics, the ACL Festival generates $73 million in visitor spending and total economic impact for Austin.  (more)

It’s almost football season in the Lone Star State, where the sport is more than a game – it’s a way of life. In anticipation of the 2011 season, the Austin Sports Commission hosts the 4th annual Texas Gridiron Kickoff presented by USA Football, featuring University of Texas Longhorns Head Coach Mack Brown, on August 3 at the Austin Convention Center. Tickets are $55 per person, $500 for a table of 10, or $750 for a table of 10 with preferred seating with an Austin American-Statesman Preseason All Centex Team player and coach. Registration is online at www.austinsports.org.  (more)

Austin is known for its music scene, capital-city attractions, and one annual event in particular: the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals. SXSW 2011 saw a significant increase in attendance – particularly for the Interactive Conference & Festival, which welcomed more than 20,000 people in 2011.  (more)

Austin City Council today took final votes to move forward with construction of a convention-style Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown Austin, just three blocks from the Austin Convention Center. The hotel will be the city’s largest, with 1,003 guestrooms and 103,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Construction is slated to begin in early 2012 and will take around 32 months according to the developers, White Lodging Services Corp.  (more)

Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) named Arron Brooks, Account Director for the Corporate and Central Region Association Markets at the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (Austin CVB), as one of thirty future leaders of the destination marketing industry.  (more)

The familiar sounds of Austin’s guitars and soulful singers give way to the revving of motorcycle engines, June 9-12. Over the four days, some 50,000 motorcycle enthusiasts will attend the 17th annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally in downtown Austin and at the Travis County Expo Center. Visitor spending associated with the event is approximately $36 million.  (more)

The Austin Music Office, a division of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (Austin CVB), is partnering with DoubleStereo to launch a customized microsite within AustinTexas.org for visitors to search, listen to, and buy Austin music and a new line of official Live Music Capital of the World® merchandise. www.austintexas.org/musicstore/  (more)