Mayor Catherine Eaves read a proclamation recognizing tourism’s economic and cultural role in Alpine and endorsed Visit Alpine, Texas’ application for the Tourism Friendly Texas certification. The proclamation cites an estimated $49,600,000 in direct visitor spending that sustains roughly 900 jobs in the community.

In a follow‑up presentation, Chris Ruggia, Alpine’s director of tourism, said the hotel revenue chart through the end of the third quarter showed an unusual pattern: rather than the typical summer decline, revenue stayed "flat and high." Ruggia said he obtained data from the city’s two largest hotels (Holiday Inn and Hampton) and is investigating whether tour groups, sports teams, military presence, or pricing strategies explain the trend. He recommended adding monthly available‑rooms vs. rented‑rooms data to hotel‑occupancy reporting to clarify whether higher hotel receipts reflect more visits or higher room rates.

Ruggia described state co‑op marketing programs that buy digital and programmatic media (display, streaming/Connected TV, audio networks, social stories) and noted Alpine was included in Travel/Texas promotional channels and in a pilot online trip‑builder service. He also described a possible shift from Zartico to Placer.ai for visitor‑data dashboards, saying Placer.ai offers stronger people‑count extrapolation when validated against physical counts.

The council did not take formal action on the tourism presentation but approved the proclamation and later approved budget action to add staff to the Visitor Center using Hotel Occupancy Tax funds.