It was a Lone Star State of mind June 12 at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto as tourism officials from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Visit Dallas and the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted an industry event to promote Texas’ DFW region.
In terms of air arrivals, Canada is the DFW’s top international market, with with nearly 264,000 Canadians heading to the Dallas-Fort Worth area last year alone. Access is easy with DFW having 14 direct daily flights from Canada (seven from Toronto) aboard Air Canada, American and WestJet.

Both Dallas and Fort Worth, located about 48 km apart, are burgeoning tourism destinations. They share six professional sports teams, Dallas boasts the largest arts district in all of the US and Fort Worth is famed for its western heritage.

“Our personalities are very unique. We complete each other,” said Robert Jameson, president and CEO, Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Dallas is investing heavily in its infrastructure and boasts numerous new hotels and hundreds of new restaurants.

“If you haven’t been to Dallas in the last five years or so, it’s a completely different city,” said Mark Thompson, vice-president, Tourism, Visit Dallas.

Pictured (l-r) at the event are Sean Donohue, CEO, DFW Airport, Thompson and Jameson.

The three were part of a much larger trade delegation, which also included the mayors of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, and Fort Worth, Betsy Price, (pictured below), visiting both Toronto and Montreal.