Uvalde Chamber of Commerce Director Yeackle discusses ambitions tourism plans at Uvalde Rotary Club Meeting

 Uvalde Chamber of Commerce Director John Yeackle spoke at Thursday’s Uvalde Rotary Club Meeting at the Uvalde Country Club discussing the many new changes the Uvalde Chamber of Commerce has implemented and the news plans it has to to provide new economic activity and tourism opportunities not only for Uvalde, but for Concan as well.

  Since City of Uvalde voted to contract with the Uvalde Area Chamber of Commerce the authority to manage a portion of the Hotel and Motel Tax Monies generated by lodges, hotels and motels within the City of Uvalde earlier this year,  the Chamber of Commerce has gone into high gear making changes including not only moving its downtown offices back from North Getty to the Uvalde Convention and Visitors building located at 300 West Main Street near the Ssgt. Willie de Leon Civic Center.

  “So basically the Chamber has about just shy of a 90 day run in our new role as a visitors center slash the Chamber of Commerce.” Yeackle said.

  Since that time, the chamber has renovated the front of its new office location adding a mini history room where an office was once located.  Yeackle stated that when a person enters the front door of the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, that person will immediately see and be greeted by a receptionist.

  “It was very important to me that we move someone out into that lobby space, so that when you walk in you are immediately greeted by someone who interacted with you. As a visitor that’s your first experience to our community,” Yeackle said.

  The Chamber has also recently added two new employees to its staff: Olga Charles and Adam Ocasio to its team.

Conference Bike

  Yeackle also talked about the new green conference bike that was donated to the Chamber of Commerce. According to Adam Ocasio and Olga Charles, the driver of the Conference Bike sits in the middle and can accommodate 6 passengers who sit around the driver. One of the chamber’s plans is to provide tours to the murals around the Uvalde Downtown Area.

“We are now meeting with the Uvalde Council of Governments in the next couple of weeks.” Yeackle said.

Shuttles from Uvalde to Concan

“We represent the HOT Tax in the city limits. The Texas Hill Country River Region operated the HOT Tax for the County. I’ve already spoken with Jamie Holmes-Vaden and we’re both on board with splitting the costs of a shuttle during spring break and summer.” Yeackle said.

According to Yeackle, the shuttle would not only transport tourists from Uvalde and Concan but also offer transportation for employees working at businesses in Concan to jobs from Uvalde and back.