Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau

What Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau does

The Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau (operating as Visit Amarillo) is the official destination marketing organization for Amarillo, Texas, formed as a standalone quasi-governmental entity on October 1, 2020. It serves leisure travelers, meeting and convention planners, sports event organizers, group tour operators, and film production visitors to the Texas Panhandle, promoting overnight stays across the region's attractions — including Route 66 landmarks (Cadillac Ranch, Big Texan Steak Ranch), Palo Duro Canyon, the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame, and performing arts venues such as the Amarillo Symphony and Lone Star Ballet. The organization cites approximately 5 million annual visitors and claims that visitor spending saves each Amarillo household an average of $1,000 per year in taxes.

The CVB's product surface is centered on the visitamarillo.com destination platform, built on the Simpleview CRM — the industry-standard DMO infrastructure — and supplemented by the Build Your Trip interactive itinerary widget and the Panhandle Pass mobile digital coupon program. Additional service lines include Meetings & Conventions (RFP-driven site selection and group logistics), Sports Tourism (delivered via a PlayEasy channel partnership), Film Commission services, and Group Travel coordination. E-commerce is operated through a Square storefront for merchandise.

The organization is funded primarily through Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenue rather than direct service fees, and its primary customers are the visitors themselves plus event planners — most of the bureau's outputs (visitor guides, content, marketing) are free at point of use. The CVB is governed by a board with mandated sector representation (hoteliers, attractions, city council, at-large citizens, plus ex-officio members from Center City of Amarillo, the Amarillo Tri-State Exposition, and the Amarillo Civic Center Complex), reflecting a public-private partnership model. Go-to-market is a hybrid of content/SEO-driven digital marketing and a sales-led motion for meetings, sports, and group travel RFPs.

Name

Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau

Legal name

Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau

Website

https://visitamarillo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Amarillo) is Amarillo, Texas's official destination marketing organization, promoting Route 66 tourism, Palo Duro Canyon, western heritage experiences, and conventions to leisure travelers, meeting planners, sports organizers, and group tour operators across the Texas Panhandle.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Services

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591), Tour Operators (561520)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Tour/Activities/Attractions Reservation Systems (THALADAG)

Keywords

• Destination marketing services
• Convention sales services
• Visitor information services
• Tourism promotion services
• Event marketing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Amarillo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT): The CVB utilizes Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue to fund tourism promotion and marketing activities. The organization explicitly references HOT tax as a funding source for growing Amarillo's tourism and strengthening the local economy.
2. Visitor Guide Sales and Distribution: Free visitor guides are distributed to tourists; the guides promote attractions, restaurants, and accommodations across Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau is a quasi-government destination marketing organization that promotes Amarillo, Texas as a tourism, meetings, and group travel destination. It sells convention and meeting sales services, sports tourism booking support, film commission liaison services, and group travel planning, while also offering consumer-facing trip planning tools and the Panhandle Pass digital coupon program. The organization is funded primarily through Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT tax) revenue collected from local lodging properties.

Product overview

The Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau operates as a destination marketing organization (DMO) offering a unified platform centered on its Visit Amarillo website. The core offerings include the primary tourism destination website supplemented by the Build Your Trip Widget for itinerary planning and the Panhandle Pass digital discount program. Additional services encompass Meetings & Conventions Services, Sports Tourism Services, Film Commission Services, and Group Travel Services—all integrated through the main website platform to provide comprehensive visitor and event planning support for the Texas Panhandle region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Panhandle Pass

Quantifiable outcome

• 5 million visitors annually generate economic impact that saves each household in Amarillo an average of $1,000 per year in taxes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Tourism Master Plan Consulting Firms (RFP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 November 2024The ACVB issued an RFP for qualified consulting firms to develop a comprehensive 20+ year Tourism Master Plan for Amarillo, Texas. The selected firm will assess tourism assets, conduct market analysis, and propose strategies for enhancing tourism offerings while ensuring sustainability.
• Texas Music OfficeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership through the Music Friendly Texas Certified Community program, promoting Amarillo's music scene and supporting music tourism initiatives.
• Texas Film CommissionminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership through the Film Friendly Texas Certified Community program, supporting film production and film-related tourism in Amarillo.
• SimpleviewcoreTechnology or IntegrationSimpleview provides the destination marketing platform (CRM and website infrastructure) powering visitamarillo.com. The platform supports event calendars, attraction listings, blog content, e-commerce (Square integration), and digital marketing capabilities.
• PlayEasyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with PlayEasy sports event platform for destination marketing targeting sports tournament organizers and athletic event planners visiting Amarillo.
• Center City of AmarillocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBeth Duke, Executive Director of Center City of Amarillo (a nationally recognized Texas Main Street City), serves as Ex-Officio member of the CVB Board, representing downtown revitalization and urban development initiatives.
• Amarillo Tri-State ExpositioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrady Ragland, CEO of Amarillo Tri-State Exposition, serves as Ex-Officio member of the CVB Board, representing major expositions and agricultural events.
• Amarillo Civic Center ComplexcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBo Fowlkes, General Manager of Amarillo Civic Center Complex, serves as Ex-Officio member of the CVB Board, representing the city's primary convention and event venue.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Visit San Antonio: Major Texas DMO with significantly larger budget and broader leisure/convention offering. Provides a comparable benchmark for what a scaled-up Texas CVB looks like.
• Visit Houston: Major Texas DMO serving the state's largest metro. Comparable DMO mandate with substantially greater funding, convention infrastructure, and international flight connectivity.
• Visit Austin: Largest Texas DMO with global brand recognition and high tourism budget. Same DMO charter as Amarillo but with much deeper resources for paid media, international marketing, and large conventions.
• Visit Dallas: Larger, well-resourced Texas DMO with a substantially bigger marketing budget, broader convention infrastructure, and global brand reach. Operates the same DMO mandate as Amarillo CVB but at materially greater scale.

Others

• Brand USA: National destination marketing organization for the United States. Indirectly comparable as the umbrella national DMO whose marketing programs and partner channels Amarillo CVB participates in to drive international inbound visitation.
• Simpleview: Destination marketing platform and CRM provider powering visitamarillo.com. Relevant as the technology backbone for Amarillo CVB and a category-defining vendor used across the DMO industry.

Direct peers

• Visit Fort Worth: Convention & Visitors Bureau for Fort Worth, Texas operating under the same HOT-funded DMO model. Comparable scope across leisure, meetings, and group travel, with overlapping Western heritage positioning.
• Visit El Paso: Convention & Visitors Bureau for El Paso, Texas. Mid-size Texas CVB with similar HOT tax funding structure, full leisure/convention/sports mandate, and competing for Texas tourism share-of-voice.
• Visit Corpus Christi: Texas coastal CVB comparable in scale and HOT-funded DMO structure. Competes for Texas leisure and group travel segments with overlapping meeting/sports/event capabilities.
• Visit Lubbock: Destination marketing organization for Lubbock, Texas — a similarly-sized West Texas city CVB. Directly comparable in mandate (visitor info, conventions, sports tourism, group travel), funding model (HOT tax), and competitive set within Texas.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/visitamarillo
• Facebookfacebook.com/VisitAmarillo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/visit-amarillo
• Instagraminstagram.com/visitamarillo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Amarillo Convention & Visitors Bureau