Community

Strengths: Cooperative spirit Community leadership Relationships with leaders Engagement with elected officials Investments in downtown Creative minds City Councilmembers

Weaknesses:

Airlift 4B to invest in tourism development Transportation around town Lack of resources Downtown lighting Beautification

Opportunities: Collaboration with tourism partners Cooperative marketing opportunities Music Friendly designation Downtown development New tourism venues

Threats: Funding and resources Homelessness Safety Naysayers Crisis

Objectives:

Increase customer service quality, service standards and destination product knowledge for frontline employees and hospitality partners. Elevate the value of the Abilene CVB, its partners and tourism to local community. Encourage collaboration and communication among tourism venues and partners. Grow economic impact to Abilene through increased meetings or visitor days. Enrich visitor experiences.

Strategies:

Empower local residents to drive economic impact through “I AM Abilene” campaign. Implement a local sales blitz to solicit meetings and conventions. Continue recognizing local HOT HOSTS. Abilene CHAMPions Hospitality Class students pose after Expand outreach to tourism partners with marketing a downtown tour with cowboy poet “Gus McDusty.” and messaging opportunities. Implement a strategic community ambassador/influencer program. Promote “Storybook Capital of Texas” and “Storybook Capital of America” brand year-round. Collaborate with partners to open Mondays during the summer and spring break. Partner with local venues to defray costs through cooperative advertising partnerships. Quarterly meetings with tourism partners to better collaborate on events and activities. Share engaging stories about tourism partners. Quarterly meetings with hotels.

FLY ABI: American Airlines serves ABI/DFW route with 86,400 seats annually. Envoy Air provides scheduled airline service under the American Eagle brand, with five to seven flights daily during normal operations. The airport maintains three runways. Abilene Aero serves as the base operator and offers self-fueling, as well as full-service fueling for private pilots and charters.