Texarkana looking to bring in more people to the area with study tour

TEXARKANA, Texas (KSLA) - Get more bodies downtown. That’s the goal of a recent tour in Texarkana, Texas. The city acted as host to a special group of visitors Wednesday, Oct. 25.

“This is going to give people who don’t live in Texarkana, who live outside our community to see what we really have going on,” city spokeswoman Brooke Stone said.

The Texas Department of Transportation’s Fall Study Tour came to town and toured the Texarkana Arts & Historic District. The tour group is made of travel counselors from the different travel information centers across the state of Texas.

“Every year we do these trips in a different region of Texas, so these travel counselors learn about all you can see and do in Texas,” Elizabeth Watson explained.

She’s with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Watson says there are twelve travel information centers in Texas, and they see about a million and a half visitors each year. She says the information these travel counselors get from visits like this should translate in an economic impact for regions by attracting more tourists to the area.

“In fiscal 2023, people spent about $75 million more than they would have otherwise because of the information they got at the centers, so we are hoping to bring some of that economic benefit back to Texarkana,” Watson said.

Go here for travel information centers in Texas.

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