Tyler Lodging Association and Visit Tyler's second annual State of the Tourism Luncheon was held Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Conference Center.

Tourism in Tyler has recovered from pandemic-plagued 2020, and the future is bright — especially with construction of the new Rose Complex Convention Center.

That was the sentiment Wednesday during the Tyler Lodging Association and Visit Tyler’s second annual State of the Tourism Luncheon, where the impact of the tourism industry was discussed.

The luncheon, held during National Travel and Tourism Week at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, offered those in attendance a look at how tourism in Tyler and the state impacts communities and its bounce back after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“This week is National Travel and Tourism Week, so we thought what a great time, what a great week to introduce and talk about all the updates we have going on in the city,” said Shari Lee, Visit Tyler president.

As the years go by, Lee said she looks forward to being able to provide yearly tourism updates and seeing how Tyler grows and moves forward in the industry.

“I am so very fortunate to be in this industry for this city,” she said. “We often tell people we sell the best city not just in Texas but in the world, so we feel very, very lucky that that is our job — to sell Tyler as a destination.”

When building tourism, it is important to see the value of economic development and assess what you have, said Scott Joslove, president and CEO of the Texas Hotel and Lodging Association.

For example, Joslove said if Tyler had a business sector producing around $324 million in direct spending yearly, about $9 million in local taxes yearly, a large infrastructure, around 3,000 employees and growing and bounced back from the pandemic within a year, then the city would want to “fight to keep that business.”

“You have that business — it’s tourism,” Joslove said. “The numbers I gave you are the numbers I pulled from the research at the auditor’s office.”

The key for Tyler is to continue retaining its tourism business, he said.

Overall, 2020 was a “horrible” year for hospitality in Texas, Joslove said. However, areas such as East Texas did better than the rest of the state, he added.

Tourism did decline in 2020 in the city. However, Tyler is even exceeding 2019 levels this year, Joslove said.

According to information from Visit Tyler, tourism in the city has bounced back and is at a record high.

For example, the hotel occupancy rate in 2019 was at 59% at an average daily rate of $70.91. In 2021, occupancy was at 69%, and the average daily rate was $75.35.

“We’re still waiting to see the business travel come back, waiting for the convention and event traffic to come at the level it was 2019, but we have filled in with leisure travel,” Joslove said.

With national officials saying the country is no longer in a pandemic and airports lifting mask requirements, people are returning to travel, he said.

“What do you need to do here in Tyler to take advantage of that?” Joslove asked.

The city should hold on to all its best assets to be successful in tourism, he added.

People come to Tyler for many reasons, not just the Rose Garden, Joslove said. The city has vineyards, historical homes and areas, the Azalea Trail, museums, the Tyler Civic Theater and numerous other attractions, he said.

Joslove added that the timing of the new Rose Complex Convention Center could not be better.

“The future is really really bright, and I will tell you that we are excited,” Joslove said. “We expect not only full recovery but a huge boom by 2024, 2025.”