Tourism Friendly Texas
The Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community program is a new designation created to encourage communities across Texas to pursue tourism as an economic development strategy and provide resources and recognition for those efforts. The program is open to local governments or non-profit organizations that serve as the lead for tourism promotion and development efforts in the community (e.g.,Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), Chamber of Commerce).These organizations are often responsible for administering local hotel occupancy tax. Only ONE entity may apply for a Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation for a given area.
Program Goals
- Strengthen relationships with existing community partners.
- Educate local leaders on the importance of tourism as a tool for economic development and job creation.
- Encourage participation in state government programs available for tourism development.
- Assist small or rural communities with limited tourism resources.
Certification Process:
- Send a Letter of Intent. This is required before proceeding to steps two and three, and the letter must be received during the enrollment window to participate. This letter will typically come from the head of the organization, or someone designated to represent the organization for the purpose of achieving certification. The letter must identify the staff member who will serve as the primary liaison with Travel Texas while completing the certification process.
- Complete the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community self-assessment. After receiving and approving the Letter of Intent, Travel Texas will send a community questionnaire to be completed and schedule an introductory kickoff meeting by mutual agreement. Following the initial meeting, the primary liaison will complete a series of short answer questions on their organization, destination marketing, destination development, and stakeholders to help us get to know you better. Letters of recommendation and a tourism proclamation are also required for certification.
- View the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community online training. Communities must view required online training from Travel Texas and complete at least one elective module. You are welcome to view more than one elective module to learn more about the programs, or share with other members of your organization, but only one is required for certification. Active participation in featured programs may count towards this elective requirement.
Once all above steps are complete, a Final Interview will be scheduled and the city will be designated and certified. The certification steps outlined above must be completed within one calendar year to receive the Tourism Friendly Texas Certified Community designation.
Applications for calendar year 2025 are now closed. Interested communities are encouraged to complete the 2026 Interest Form so our team can contact your organization in January 2026 when enrollment opens.
2026 Interest Form
Questions?
Portal access for currently enrolled and certified Tourism Friendly Texas Communities