A tourism consultant presents an update to the College Station city council

This podcast contains comments from the November 13, 2025 College Station city council meeting.In July 2025, a consultant hired by the College Station city council met with representatives of local tourism businesses and committees.At the council's November 13th meeting, the consultant presented an update to the council.Click HERE to read and download presentation materials at the November 13, 2025 College Station city council meeting.Five of the six recommendations made by consultant Dan Fenton involved collaborating with Texas A&M.One idea is to get faculty members to recruit meetings and conventions to College Station. Fenton relayed an estimate from one hotel manager that because A&M has more than 4,000 faculty members, they could help bring as many as 10,000 meetings to College Station.Another idea is having A&M's admissions office promote to out of town prospective students and families, staying longer in College Station.The council was asked to consider the following ideas:• Establish a dedicated joint event coordinator position• Create a unified calendar system to eliminate scheduling conflicts between City and A&M• Develop a “Venue Needs Assessment” so external planners know what’s available and when.• Build package/event marketing for city venues as alternatives when A&M venues are unavailable.• Target association meetings/conferences market with dedicated sales staff.The consultant is scheduled to present a final plan to the council in February 2026.The nearly 40 minute discussion did not include the preferred access agreement for campus facilities that was made 13 years ago between the A&M system and the cities of College Station and Bryan and Brazos County. The agreement diverted 30 years of hotel occupancy tax money towards the expansion of Kyle Field.