Courier July 2016 | Page 32

CITY SPOTLIGHT San Antonio COMPILED BY BOB ROUSE Let’s look down the road. In December 2017, NTA will hold Travel Exchange in San Antonio, a city that’s the heart and soul of Texas—with a dynamic blend of cultures: Native American, European, Western and Southern. “Originally a Spanish colonial outpost, San Antonio has grown into the nation’s seventh-largest city. We are one of the nation’s leading leisure destinations, and we enjoy taking tour groups into the core of who we are as San Antonians.” BERNE BROUDY —Casandra Matej, executive director, San Antonio CVB San Antonio’s River Walk, which was created along 21 blocks in 1941, now stretches for five miles beside the San Antonio River, one level down from street traffic. Visitors can (of course) walk the Walk, bike it or take a river barge. 30 July 2016 Our spotlight on San Antonio will help prepare you for next December. It can also inspire a new itinerary—down the road. “We want to personalize every experience with San Antonio’s authenticity, whether that’s touring our Spanish colonial missions with an archaeologist, cooking with one of our acclaimed chefs or exploring the extended River Walk with conservationists.” —Casandra Matej TOP: STUART DEE VISITSANANTONIO.COM San Antonio offers what NTA tour operators package: • Arts and culture (packaged by 60 percent of NTA tour operators) • History (66 percent) • Culinary (52 percent) • Theme parks and family activities (60 percent) • Active lifestyles (46 percent)