Spotlight on Austin

Celebrating Air Canada’s upcoming daily direct route to Austin on May 18, representatives from the self-proclaimed “live music capital of the world” were in Toronto this week for an industry soiree on all things Austin.

Set to the live musical offerings of Austin’s own Gina Chavez and paired with drinks from Austin-made Tito’s Handmade Vodka, the event was hosted by Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau and featured partners from Fairmont Austin, Four Seasons Hotel Austin, Hyatt Regency Austin, JW Marriott Austin.

“The way that Austin has been packaged is with another city. It’s been Dallas, Austin, San Antonio or they’ll stop in Austin on their way to Houston. I think that Austin having grown as much as it has, definitely in the last five years, is worthy of an individual Austin package,” Shilpa Bakre, senior communications manager at the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau, said to PressToday. “We’re adding tons and tons of new hotel rooms so in 2017 we will have 10,000 hotel rooms just in downtown, which is almost an increase of 50% from just two years ago.”

Pictured at the event are (l-r) Tony Celio of Air Canada, and Bakre, Courtney Sculley and Steve Genovesi from the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau.