AUSTIN, Texas — Austin thrives off of its tourism, which is why tourism groups and city leaders are looking at how to maintain it when the city's convention center shuts its doors next year.
The convention center is set to undergo a massive expansion project in 2025, with construction expected to last until 2029.
The space is home to a number of conferences, expo shows and annual events such as South by Southwest (SXSW) that will be forced to move to other venues and event spaces.
Wesley Lucas, the Director of Communications for Visit Austin, said his team is working with hotels and off-site venues to help make room.
"If you've ever been to South By [Southwest], you don't just stay in one location. You're moving all across downtown and different parts of the city," Lucas said. "We're really going to utilize south by kind of as a as a game plan for how a successful event can be held in Austin and that campus style or mini-wide approach."
During a March 13 meeting, other Visit Austin leaders echoed the different strategies they would approach to ensure all the events that come to the city thrive.
Executive Vice President Steve Genovesi listed out other possible locations to use, such as the Speakeasy, Stateside At the Paramount Theatre and the Palmer Events Center.
"We're going to just realign our sales team, which we have, to really market these areas, and it's not just about downtown [Austin], it's the entire area," Genovesi said during the meeting.
Lucas said that although SXSW and other events will look different in the coming years, the plans to expand are still necessary.
"We have the 60th largest convention center, about 50% of the meetings and conventions that we have to turn down or we end up losing business for is because of the inadequate space at our convention center," Lucas said.
SXSW officials said the event will remain in Austin during the convention center's construction period and released the following statement regarding its revamp:
“We’re so pleased to support the Austin Convention Center and the City of Austin as they move forward with the redesign project,” said Michele Flores, SXSW Chief Logistics Officer. “While we're excited about the prospect of reimagining SXSW for a few years, we look forward to returning to the new convention center in 2029 for an improved SXSW experience.”
In the past, there have been suggestions of moving SXSW. Back in 2011, San Antonio city leaders proposed moving it to their city because they had more hotel rooms, but SXSW organizers remained firm on wanting to stay in the Capital City.