Facts on the Hospitality and Hotel Industry in Dallas
The hospitality industry is a major economic engine for the Dallas area. Each year the Dallas area hosts more than 12.7 million visitors annually who bring almost $14.2 billion into our economy.
The hospitality industry is also a major employer in the Dallas area. Overall, the hospitality and tourism industry employs more than 132,000 people in the Greater Dallas area–more than EDS, TXU, Texas Instruments, the City of Dallas and the US Postal service combined.
Hotels also generate significant tax dollars into state and local governments. Each year the local hospitality industry generates approximately $437 million in taxes to the state of Texas and more than $170 million intaxes to the City of Dallas.
Most visitors that stay in Dallas hotels come for business reasons. Over-all business travel and group meetings account for more than 83 percent of hotel stays in the Dallas area. In Houston, business and group meetings account for 77 percent of hotel stays in the city. In San Antonio, itis 59 percent.
In downtown Dallas, group travel accounts for 63 percent of hotel stays. By comparison, group travel accounts for 31 percent of hotel stays in Houston and 48 percent in San Antonio. The downtown Dallas area is very dependent on convention and group meeting business compared to other parts of the state.
Under State Law, hotels collect hotel occupancy taxes which are used to help fund tourism marketing, convention facilities, arts, historical preservation, and sports facilities. The Dallas hotel occupancy rate is 15 percent. Six percent of this amount goes to the state, seven percent goes to the City of Dallas, and two percent is used to help pay off the bonds for the American Airlines Center . The City of Dallas uses two-thirds of the hotel occupancy tax generated to pay off bonds for the Dallas Convention Center, and one-third to market Dallas through the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. In suburban areas, most local communities have a 13 percent hotel occupancy tax. In Grapevine, the tax is 12 percent.
According to the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, each person that stays overnight in a hotel spends an average of $210.05 per day in Dallas. Overall, the average hotel visitor stays almost four nights, spending $722.94 in Dallas. Each convention delegate averages spending $287 per day in Dallas.
Dallas area hotels have experienced a significant decline in occupancy rates. From 1996 to 2003, occupancy declined drastically by 22 percent. For the last several years, the hospitality industry was impacted by rapid hotel expansion, Dallas Convention Center Construction, market saturation, and growing competition among convention cities for group business.
In Dallas, unlike other markets we compete against for business, the industry has battled against a decline in convention and group meeting business, Dallas Convention Center management transitions, the impact of taxi issues, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau restructuring, and smoking restrictions.
