MONTHLY MEASURE
Click here for the latest Monthly Measure, an executive summary of the recent performance activity from the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau. Detailed information includes several local and national industry barometers.

$11 BILLION HOSPITALITY IMPACT FOR 2008
San Antonio's hospitality industry continues to be a major driver in the local economy. The latest research with data collected in 2008 highlights the industry's positive effect on our quality of life. The economic impact for 2008 was $11 billion dollars with more than $285 million in taxes and fees to local governments, $153 million of that went to the City of San Antonio. The economic impact of the hospitality industry from 1998 to 2008 grew a whopping 70% and now employs one out of every eight people in the San Antonio metropolitan community. The study is a partnership between the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Council, Hotel & Lodging Association, Trinity University and the CVB. Visit the San Antonio Hospitality Economic Impact page in the Partners section of www.visitsanantonio.com to download a brochure with the study results.

HERE COME THE IRISH!
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take over the Alamodome on Halloween for their first off-site home game against the Washington State Cougars. Road closures for the Notre Dame Pep Rally and Fighting Irish Band March will affect downtown traffic:

Friday, October 30, 2009
Notre Dame Pep Rally, Alamo Plaza, 7:00 p.m.
Street closures starting at 5:00 p.m.
-Alamo Street from Commerce to Houston
-Crockett/Blum from Bonham to Losoya

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Notre Dame Parade, Main Plaza to the Alamodome, approximately 3:45 p.m.
Street closure will begin at 3:30 P.M.
-Market Street from S. Flores St. to New Bowie St.
-Market Street will reopen as soon as marchers clear an intersection.

The game will be broadcast on NBC with a kick off time of 6:30 p.m., October 31, 2009. Tickets are still available through Ticketmaster. Check out www.alamobowl.com for Game Day details.

NWWFF CELEBRATES 10 YEARS
San Antonio’s appeal as a culinary destination has grown tremendously over the years.  Our world class chefs, diverse cuisine, and area wines have put us on the culinary map.  For the past 10 years the New World Wine & Food Festival has consistently lured locals and visitors by offering a robust taste of San Antonio; and each year, more and more come back to experience our city’s unique flavors at food and wine tastings, seminars, and a black tie affair.  We encourage you to celebrate 10 years of the New World Wine & Food Festival, the premier San Antonio food and wine experience, from November 1-15, 2009.  Visit their website for the event lineup and to purchase tickets online.

TIME'S RUNNING OUT TO ROCK 'N' ROLL
Only 500 spots are left for the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon! The race is expected to be another sell out with some 30,000 runners hitting the streets on Sunday, November 15, 2009. Online registration continues through November 8, 2009 or when maximum of 30,000 participants is met. 

Something new this year - kids can rock too! YMCA presents the Kids Rock San Antonio one-mile fun run on November 14 at Brackenridge Park. The untimed race is for children in grades K - 5. Check out kidsrocksa.com for more details.

The concert headliners for the post-race concert are Texas trio The Lonely Boys.

Road closure information is available online at http://san-antonio.competitor.com/event-info/course/road-closures/

BUILD A PLAYGROUND FOR NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES CONFERENCE
The City of San Antonio is hosting the 2009 National League of Cities (NLC) Congress of Cities & Exposition from November 10 - 14. We are expecting over 2,000 elected and appointed officials, local municipal government leaders, and exhibitors from the U.S.

Part of the NLC's visit is a KaBOOM! playground build. Volunteers are needed for the ONE day build!

When: 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. on Friday, November 13
What: Building a playground in a day with KaBOOM! Huggies
Where: Westend Park, 1401 N. Hamilton, just off of Culebra

KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit dedicated to bringing play back into children’s lives. This year's build is funded by the generous support of Huggies brand. More than 40 children from the area met with KaBOOM! and Huggies brand representatives to help dream up their ideal play space. These sketches and ideas will be used to design the playground, which Congress of Cities volunteers will build.

For more information, contact Sandy Jenkins at (210) 207-2721 or visit NLC's web page on the KaBOOM! playground build.

H1N1 RESOURCES
In an effort to provide the latest resources and information available regarding H1N1, the SACVB and our hospitality partners have joined forces with Metro Health to educate our visitors and locals. Visit the H1N1 Resources page in our Partners section of www.visitsanantonio.com for flu fact sheets, a hotel response plan & checklist, helpful phone numbers, and links.



TREASURE CHEST 2010
The SACVB Treasure Chest needs your help to continue promoting San Antonio in 2010. The Treasure Chest is an inventory of hotel night stays, restaurant certificates and attraction passes used to create "San Antonio Getaway" packages for media, online and trade show promotions. The Treasure Chest is an excellent opportunity to promote your business in partnership with the SACVB at no cost. Certificates and passes must be valid through December 31, 2010. To participate contact Karina Alderete at (210) 207-6737.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK
The San Antonio Community Relations division is now on Facebook. Visit our page and become a fan to get the latest news, updates and access to our photo galleries.

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CONVENTION CENTER CONTINUES ENHANCEMENT PROJECTS
A new architectural element now ties the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center with the Grand Hyatt hotel. The truss with the center's name was put in place October 27th.

HENRY B. GONZALEZ STATUE DEDICATION
A bronze, life-size statue of the late Henry B. Gonzalez is now in a more visible location, outside the convention center at the corner of E. Market and Alamo. The statue, which was previously located inside the center, was rededicated on October 24th with a special ceremony attended by the late congressman's son Representative Charlie Gonzalez, Mayor Julian Castro, City Manager Sheryl Sculley, and 5th graders from Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary School. The students read poems they wrote about Henry B. Gonzalez and his passion for civil rights and education. A photo gallery of the ceremony is on the SACVB Community Relations Facebook page.

Students from Henry B. Gonzalez Elementary School pose underneath the Henry B. Gonzalez statue with Mayor Julian Castro, Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, City Manager Sheryl Sculley, and Convention Center Director Michael Sawaya.

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SACVB SALES MANAGER TO BE INDUCTED INTO SPORTS HALL OF FAME
SACVB Sales Manager Vanessa Richey-Said will be inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame on February 12, 2010. Richey-Said specializes in bringing sports association meetings and events to San Antonio. Her accomplishments include gold medals at the U.S. Modern Pentathlon National Championships, the U.S. Olympic Festival and the Pan American Modern Pentathlon Championships. She was a high school state champion in swimming and a member of the University of Texas swim team that won four NCAA championships. Other honors include being named U.S. Modern Pentathlon Athlete of the Year and The Women’s Sports Foundation’ s Up and Coming Athlete of the Year. She is also a member of the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. Please join us in congratulating Vanessa!

INCENTIVE WORKS
SACVB Sales staff attended Canada's largest trade show for the meetings, incentive travel, special events and promotions industries. For over 15 years, Canadian planners have made IncentiveWorks a ‘must attend’ event each year. The combination of professional, affordable education and powerful networking opportunities gives planners the resources they need to succeed

SACVB National Convention Sales Manager Sandy Bench is pictured far left with representatives from the Houston CVB and Texas Tourism.

TSAE IN S.A.
SACVB Executive Director Scott White and Services Director Kari Cloudt (both pictured left) accept thanks from Texas Society of Association Executives. The group held their annual meeting here September 13-15, 2009 at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel with a record-breaking attendance of almost 500.  Texas based groups represent about 25% of San Antonio's business. Besides seminars and workshops, attendees visited the Museum Reach River Walk extension and learned about the public art installations along the way. The group also visited the Pearl Brewery (photo below). 

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OFFICIAL SAN ANTONIO POCKET GUIDE
The Official San Antonio Pocket Guide (250,000 printed) is now being handed out through conventions and group tours plus at the Official Visitor Center and Airport. It is also available to local hotels and attractions (call CVB front desk). This guide was designed for people who are already in San Antonio and sets the stage for expanded and repeat visits from a captured customer base. The guide highlights key landmarks and attractions in geographic areas of the city, as well as a representative range of establishments. It features area maps, including a fold-out map of downtown San Antonio and another one of the Museum Reach.

TRAVEL & LEISURE GUIDE
Over 298,000 print guides were requested in FY09 and 35,624 unique visitors viewed the e-version.


WEBSITES
A New Meeting Professional website, currently being reviewed by the CVB Team, will feature a functional design to help meeting professionals quickly find the information most relevant for their type of meeting. It will have a more comprehensive search for accommodations and venues based on various criteria. The new site will launch in November/December.

Also, a new Spanish language leisure site is under development and will provide a friendly portal customized and relevant for the Mexico market.

DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital marketing through paid and organic search, online display ads, and e-mail is resulting in 15%-18% monthly conversions to Signals of Intent to Travel, including e-newsletter sign-up, visitor guide orders and e-book clicks, SAVE brochure orders, accommodation search and property profile views and event searches. For FY09, over 4.5 million monthly messages were e-mailed to pull consumers to San Antonio; growing our opt-in database by 30%.

A new home page on visitsanantonio.com promotes San Antonio “products” and events more effectively and delivers “smart” content messages customized to be more relevant to consumers—city with direct flight to SA, searching for theme parks, within Texas, etc.

S.A.V.E.
Join us in the SACVB's Rio Vista Room on Monday, November 9th at 10 a.m. to learn about and sign up for the 2010 San Antonio Vacation Experience (S.A.V.E.) program. For more information please contact the S.A.V.E. Program Administrator, Mary Repole, at epiphany@gvtc.com or (210) 391-3205.

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MEXICO HUMAN RESOURCE PROMOTIONS
The Tourism Division launched a Mexico Summer Sales campaign, working with Mexico corporations and organizations, promoting exclusive hotel and attraction offers to their employee base. Working directly with the Human Resource departments of individual organizations, offers were promoted by them via internal channels, intranet systems, email blasts, and web listings. Please contact Salvador Garza for more information.

GLOBAL HOSPITALITY
Global Hospitality Marketing Link, the company that represents San Antonio and Austin in Europe, mainly the UK, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia, recently assisted in coordinating a sales mission to the London area for both CVB's. During that time appointments were made with the following tour operators: Bon Voyage, Funway Vacations, America As You Like It, TUI Travel, Thomas Cook Signature, Lastminute.com, New Market Holidays and Lotus Group. Carla Norwood, Tourism Sales Manager and Linda Moore, Tourism Sales Manager Austin, offered training and presentations to 42 agents.

Pictured left to right: Sarah Parry, Global Hospitality, TUI staff member; Sarah Lax, Product Manager, TUI; Carla Norwood, SACVB Tourism Sales Manager; Linda Moore, Tourism Sales Manager, Austin; Karen Meehan-Bissett, Continental Airlines, UK.

ASTA
Sandy Phillips SACVB Tourism Manager, attended Asta, an annual trade show for travel agents from the U.S. People from all over the world exhibit at Asta. Over 2,000 people attended this year. Sandy is pictured with Babs Daitch, USA Ambassador/IGLTA.

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NEW TX FILM INCENTIVE MAKING AN IMPACT IN S.A.
With the passage of the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program in April of this year, motion picture producers, commercial productions, and television series can take advantage to up to 17.5% of their total Texas spending in the form of a cash grant. Inquiries and requests for location assistance at the Film Commission are up, and both Janet Vasquez (location coordinator) and Drew Mayer-Oakes (director) have been scouting locations far and wide.

The San Antonio Film Commission serves the San Antonio area by providing location scouting services for funded projects, and serves as a liaison between production companies and San Antonio companies, organizations and individuals. Have questions about how your property can be used in a film or television production? Just give us a call or browse our website, www.filmsanantonio.com.

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POST YOUR EVENT ON VisitSanAntonio.com
Have an event to submit to the CVB Events Calendar? Click here for the submission form. Images up to 100 KB can be uploaded.

COFFINS ON THE RIVER AND SCREAMS AROUND TOWN
Halloween in San Antonio offers a variety of fun, family-friendly activities. SeaWorld San Antonio's Howl-O-Scream (pictured right) continues Friday, October 30 - Saturday, October 31. Six Flags Fiesta Texas hosts their annual Fright Fest with thrills, chills, and screams throughout the amusement park. The Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa is holding the first ever Hill Country Halloween, a weekend filled with ghostly surprises to delight guests of all ages, on October 30 and 31, 2009. In downtown San Antonio, Coffins on Parade kicks off Saturday, October 31st from 7 - 9 p.m. This Halloween favorite parade and celebration is hosted by the Paseo del Rio Association, a nonprofit San Antonio organization that provides the decorative coffins free of charge for all to see. For more Halloween activities visit our Events Calendar.

DIWALI FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
The River Walk will glow with hundreds of tea lights this weekend as part of the Diwali: Festival of Lights. The inaugural event, which takes place November 1 from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Arneson River Theatre, is a partnership with the India Association of San Antonio and the City of San Antonio. The event is free and all will enjoy Indian dance, cuisine and a professional fireworks display. For more information, visit http://www.sanantoniotrade.org/diwali-festival-2009.html or call (210) 207-8102.

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GRAND HYATT HOLIDAY WINDOW UNVEILING
Tongues and tails will be wagging when the Grand Hyatt presents “Waiting for Santa Paws”, a 41 foot by 54 foot holiday window display with a pet theme. The unveiling will take place near the hotel’s porte-cochere entrance on Bowie Thursday, November 5 at 5:15 p.m.. The unveiling will be presented to the public amid musical fanfare while complimentary food and drinks will be served. Special guests will include a litter of adorable, adoptable bow-clad puppies, courtesy of HSSA. The event is free and open to the public. Following the unveling, the fun will continue in Bar Rojo as GHSA hosts the November Mixer for NSide Magazine with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Humane Society of San Antonio.

WESTIN LA CANTERA GETS CLOSE WITH NATURE
Set on a hillside, the Westin La Cantera Resort is inviting its guests to explore the beautiful views through nature trails and a running club. The Westin La Cantera Running Concierge brings guests together and provides an adrenaline filled "discovery run" through out the hill country setting. The La Cantera Nature Trail and the nearby Crowne Ridge Canyon and Friedrich Wilderness Park allow guests to stay or venture off the resort property to admire cedar groves, blooming cacti, wildlife, creeks and springs.

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The following groups met in San Antonio over the month of October:

2nd Bomb Group Association
2nd Bombardment Association
22nd Bomb Group Association
ASME Petroleum Division
Alliance for Catholic Education
American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists
American Federation of Government Employees
AMERIND Risk Management Corporation
Analex Corporation
Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology
Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents
Association of Millwork Distributors
Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions
Augsburg 2nd OPS
Baylor University
Beefmaster Breeders United
Correctional Management Institute of Texas
Council on Foundations
Custodial Management Association of Texas
FRANMAC (Taco Bell Franchise Management Advisory Council)
Federacion Colombiana de Ganaderos
Flies Family Reunion
Fort Worth Class of 1953
Frankfurt American High School Reunion
Hochheim Prairie Insurance
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man & Cybernetics
International Society of Travel & Tourism Educators
Internet2
Juvenile Justice Association of Texas
Kent Feeds, Inc.
Making Connections San Antonio
MassMutual Financial Group
National Adult Protective Services Association
National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Professional Martial Artists
National Association of Professional Mortgage Women
National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Council of State Housing Agencies
National Dropout Prevention Network
National Fenestration Rating Council
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
North Texas District Council
Pestmaster Services, Inc.
Pipeline Research Council International, Inc.
Physician Insurers Association of America
Regal Club Reunion
San Antonio International Farm and Ranch Show
School Specialty Inc.
Southern Mensurationists
Southwest Association of Prelaw Advisor
Texas A & M University System
Texas Alliance of Child & Family Service
Texas Association of Local WIC Directors
Texas Bankers Association
Texas Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services
Texas Municipal Clerks Association
The Cognitive Development Society
The League of World War I Aviation Historians
TrustTexas Bank
University Economic Development Association
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at San Antonio
US Department of Education
US Department of Veterans Affairs
US Environmental Protection Agency
US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
USA Swimming
USAF Pilot Training Class 61-D
USS Agawam Reunion Group
USS Eversole Association
USS Santa Fe
USS Willmarth
VW 1 Officers Association
Veterans Administration
Women in Insurance & Financial Services

Click here for a complete schedule of meetings from the SACVB website.

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Newsletter Information
From The Heart is a collaborative effort of the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Convention, Sports and Entertainment Facilities.

Our Mission is "To promote and market San Antonio as a premier visitor and convention/meeting destination for the purpose of positively affecting the city economy."

For more information, or to be removed from this newsletter list, email us at CommunityRelations@VisitSanAntonio.com, or call Marketing & Communications division at (210) 207-6737.