CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City of Corpus Christi now has the results of three studies looking at the economic impact tourism has on our area.
Tourism officials said the numbers show that our City is the state's top Gulf Coast destination.
Over the years many people may have assumed that Corpus Christi was nowhere near the top of our state's coastal destinations for tourists. But new research just released today by Visit Corpus Christi officials show that the city is actually number one with over 1.5 million rooms sold in 2021.
"As far as overnight we are 66% ahead of the closest city, which is Galveston and then South Padre, we're 265% ahead of south Padre," said Brett Oetting with Visit Corpus Christi. "Both of those are cities that most people think are very tourism focused."
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo is hoping that the City can capitalize on the big news.
"This study shows that more tourists come to Corpus Christi for overnight stays, revenue spending, sales tax spending, just tourism altogether. And that has now been confirmed," Guajardo said.
According to Oetting, the numbers also show that tourists brought in 98.6 million in tax revenues in 2021, with $30.3 million going directly to the city.
"Corpus Christi is generating roughly $30 million a year in sales tax revenues by tourists that are going directly to the city," Oetting said. "That the City is using to hire more police police fire, more fire fix fix the streets improve the parks and recreation as well."
Officials said that some 4.7 million people stayed at least one night in Corpus Christi in 2021. That doesn't include those who simply took a day trip here. That number is said to be double the overnight stays.
Visit this link to view the study.
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