Visit College Station wins two statewide tourism awards from Destinations Texas

Visit College Station was honored with two Destination Excellence Awards at the 2026 Destinations Texas Annual Conference held Sept 2-4 recognizing the organization's leisure marketing campaign and its promotion of major sporting events hosted in the destination this year.

In the DMO category with a budget of over $3 million, Visit College Station received the Best Leisure Tourism Campaign award for "Learn Why You'll Love It Here," the destination's brand platform built on a college-course creative device unique to Aggieland. The win reflects the marketing team's work creating and expanding the platform across leisure, sales and sports audiences, building destination brand awareness beyond College Station's university association. The campaign drove measurable gains in awareness and engagement across web, social, paid media and public relations.

The organization also won Best Sports Tourism Promotion for its work bringing three marquee sporting events to College Station within a five-week span in spring and early summer 2026: the Savannah Bananas at Kyle Field, the Argentina vs. Honduras "Road to 26" match leading up to World Cup, and the USATF Lone Star Grand Prix at E.B. Cushing Stadium. The events drew more than 190,000 combined attendees, generated an estimated $33.5 million in direct economic impact and produced nearly 2,900 news articles worldwide with an estimated $146.56 million in advertising value equivalency.

The sports tourism win reflects a joint effort between Visit College Station's sales and marketing teams, working alongside Texas A&M University and event organizers to plan, fund and promote the events.

"I’m super proud. These awards belong to our entire team, who put in the work day in and day out to build College Station into a destination that competes and wins on a national stage," said Jeremiah Cook, Assistant Director of Tourism for Visit College Station. "None of it happens without our partners at Texas A&M and across the community, collaborating and working together toward a singular goal. This is a win for the whole city."

Destinations Texas, formerly the Texas Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, recognizes excellence in tourism marketing and promotion among Texas destination organizations each year at its annual conference.

These awards are a reminder of why tourism matters to College Station: every visitor drawn here brings new dollars into local hotels, restaurants and shops, supporting jobs and easing the tax burden on residents.