CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
With the summer tourist season officially behind us, how did the final big weekend of the summer fair for us economically?
After all, Labor Day is always an important extended weekend for businesses in the Coastal Bend.
The numbers from the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau are pretty impressive. A little more than 5,000 people visited the U.S.S. Lexington, more than 9,000 visited the Texas State Aquarium and other local attractions also reported impressive numbers.
"The hotel occupancy was strong, especially Saturday and Sunday nights," said Keith Arnold, CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. "At the downtown and beach areas, it was 92 to 95-percent occupancy, so it was a really good weekend. And all those numbers of people that come in, you just have to remember, spend about $115 each per day to be here, so it was a strong close to a very strong summer."
Arnold said that, while the official tourist season may be over, Corpus Christi will still enjoy a steady stream of visitors through the end of the year.
"Because, effectively we have almost seven months of off-season, this will be stronger than last year as it has been for every other aspect of this year," Arnold said. "But our three-year plan is to build more festivals and events in the other seven months to pick up the occupancies, so there's not such a significant drop-off the day after Labor Day."
