GALVESTON, Tx. – People are hungry for their cities to come back to life with summer travelers and now that holiday weekend cruises start up again, travel seems to be back in full swing.
When visiting Galveston, Texas, it’s easy to see: the summer vacation is in full swing even before the cruises leave.
“At the moment it’s just packed. It’s wall-to-wall people, ”said Rodger Rees, Port of Galveston CEO.
Travelers enjoy and family businesses thrive.
“I don’t even know how to get this place busier, but I think it’s going to be great,” said Gracie Bassett, who runs Gracie’s gift shop with her family.
“My parents have had Gracies for 24 years and they have been in retail for 29 years,” said Bassett. “I just grew up in the store.”
They feared COVID-19 would curtail that family legacy, but this jewelry and treasure stop never went silent.
“Because Galveston is so close to Houston, it is one of the fourth largest cities in the country. People could drive and just wanted to get away from the madness of COVID, so they came to the beach, ”Bassett said.
Her family was so busy they expanded and opened a second store just down the street. But success here is in stark contrast to the void just a few blocks away.
“From a cruise business perspective, we’ve really been hurt,” Rees said. “We’ve lost about $ 44 million in revenue in the past 16 months.”
Galveston’s biggest attraction has been in the dock for more than a year. The companies that support the cruise industry have also almost gone under.
“We were always sitting idle and that was really tough for us,” said Jason Hayes, who owns several cruise parking lots in Galveston.
The business he has built with his mother since 2003 has barely survived. He said he always saved money for a rainy day and was grateful that he could count on it last year.
“We didn’t turn off our Comcast. We haven’t stopped our insurance for our buses, ”said Hayes. “We kept paying our bills. If we had known that we would have been out of business for 16 months, I would probably have sold my buses. “
But this man lives and breathes, much like this city, cruises. He even got married on a ship.
“That’s what we do. That’s us. We’re a family of cruise lines,” said Hayes.
That love kept his hope alive that the ships would return.
“We can feel it. It’s in the air. The people are preparing. People call. People are excited, ”said Hayes.
Cruises are scheduled to depart throughout July and more ships will be docked in Galveston in the coming months.
But this break from the cruise ship showed travelers across the country that there is more than one port here.
“What that proves is when you go out and see the cars and you see Oklahoma, you see Michigan, you see Kansas, you see Iowa,” Rees said of the tourists from different states who come here to enjoy the beach .
“Galveston is so rich in history and it’s a bit like little New Orleans, it’s got a lot of character. So there is a lot of upside here, ”Rees said.
Because even if the cruises come back, these families want travelers to come and stay where they call home.
