Island Matters hosted its third roundtable for SPI business owners/representatives to attend, meet, and discuss ideas to improve the business environment on the island.

The meeting at the IM’s 2605 Padre Blvd. office focused on advocating for the 2nd causeway. In addition, business owners examined and continued the theme from earlier meetings: how to offer visitors a consistently great experience.

SPI Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) Director, Blake Henry, attended, offered several suggestions, interacted with business leaders, and listened to proposed solutions.

Working Together

An idea suggested by Henry was coordinating events that share a weekend. A variety of activities that gives visitors more choices to attend multiple events on a weekend.

Taking the CVB Hospitality Certification course, upgrading cross-marketing internally among local businesses and building a business registry drew widespread support at the meeting.

Currently, IM is working on building a searchable SPI-only business directory to share with local business owners.

2nd Causeway

Henry suggested a possible separate website for advocating for the 2nd causeway. Solutions included making information accessible to island residents, SPI businesses, non-resident property owners and concerned island visitors.

[The business roundtable exists to identify key actions to improve the business environment on the island and to educate IM’s staff on the most important business stories we should be covering.]