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Galveston Meetings
Fifty miles south of Houston on Galveston
Island, the city of Galveston serves as both a post-conference offering
and a meeting destination of its own. Located 30 minutes from Houston’s
Hobby Airport or 90 minutes from George Bush International Airport, Galveston
is also accessible through Scholes International Airport, which accommodates
charter planes (up to a Boeing 767) and helicopters.
The city is drawing more groups than ever
before thanks to the Galveston Island Convention Center at The San
Luis Resort, opened in 2004. “The Galveston Island Convention
Center has almost 100,000 square feet of total meeting, expo and
pre-function space,” notes Dottie Bossley, Regional Sales Director
for the Galveston Island CVB. “Galveston Island can now host
meetings and conferences that require exhibit space up to 43,100
gross square feet.”
The new convention center is located along
Seawall Boulevard, the seaside avenue that leads into the historic heart
of the downtown region: The Strand, an area once called the “Wall
Street of the Southwest” for its financial wheelings and dealings.
Located a block from the busy seaport, here shippers once traded merchandise
from around the world for cargos of Texas cotton. Today trolleys clang
along the historic streets, transporting attendees through the district
filled with specialty shops and restaurants housed in one of the nation's
largest collections of Victorian commercial architecture.
The convention center—along with a billion
dollars in investment throughout the city ranging from limited service
projects to condominium developments to the new Schlitterbahn Galveston
Island Waterpark—has drawn an increasing number of groups to the
island. “We are seeing a steady increase of new associations and
corporations bringing their meetings and conventions to Galveston Island,”
points out Bossley. “The Convention Center has increased awareness
of Galveston even for smaller and repeat conference business.” Bossley
reports that the city has over 4,000 guest rooms on the island and “and
can contract 10 to 2,000 overnight guest rooms on peak night for meetings
and conventions. Our primary target market is Texas associations with
an increased emphasis on the national associations based in Washington
D.C. and corporate markets in Chicago and other major metropolitan cities.
“
A second extensive meetings facility is found
at Moody Gardens, four miles from The Strand. The 428-room Moody Gardens
Hotel, Spa and Convention Center is home to a recently expanded convention
center. In May 2004, the hotel completed the final phase of a 60,000-square-foot
expansion with telescopic seating for over 5,000 delegates. Today the
hotel offers over 100,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.
The hotel’s convention space is just
the first of Moody Garden’s many group options. The 242-acre Moody
Gardens features both gardens and glass pyramids housing IMAX theaters
and exhibits that range from space exploration to marine life. The facility's
first major attraction was the Rainforest Pyramid and IMAX 3D Theater
Complex, with over 1,700 exotic plants, fish, birds, and insects from
the world's rainforests, all housed in a glass pyramid.
Nearby, the Rainforest Overlook can accommodate
80 attendees for a reception. The Discovery Pyramid showcases the work
of NASA through space habitats, exhibits, and interactive displays.
The third pyramid is the Aquarium Pyramid,
with two million gallons of water containing wildlife from the North Pacific,
South Pacific, South Atlantic, and Caribbean waters. Nearby gardens are
available for group use, ranging in size from the 50-person Flamingo Terrace
to the 500-person Oleander Bowl. Steps away, the Colonel Paddlewheeler
can be chartered for groups of up to 750 attendees.
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