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Kathi Hughes accepts her award from Bob Phillips with Phillips Entertainment and Joan Henderson, Director of TX Dot Travel Information Division.
The Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) Travel Information Division awarded Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Center Director Kathi Weathington Hughes the 2022 Gene Phillips Hospitality Award during a ceremony March 31 at the annual Texas Travel Counselors Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The award recognizes Hughes for her long career in and her dedication to the Texas tourism industry, “as well as her outstanding support of TxDOT’s Travel Information Centers and the state’s $57 billion travel industry.”
The Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau hosted the event in partnership with TxDOT and the Texas Travel Alliance (TTA).
“Kathi Hughes brings so much enthusiasm and fun to her important work with the Texas travel industry, so she’s an absolute joy to work with,” said Joan Henderson, Director of the Travel Information Division at TxDOT. “We’re thrilled to present her with this well-deserved award in recognition of her distinguished career. We’re so grateful for her long-standing support!”
Hughes began her career in Texas tourism with the Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau in the early 1989, and for the past 17 years she has served as Director of Jefferson County’s Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Center located in Beaumont. In this capacity, she organizes and participates in numerous events to promote tourism to her region, and often partners with the Texas Travel Information Center in Orange to help bring visitors to Texas. She and her staff are always present and active participants and organizers at the center’s safety and tourism events, and Hughes makes sure to keep center staff up to date on area tourism meetings and promotions.
Hughes helped organize and grow the Southeast Texas Area, Regional Tourism networking group, which works as a partnership of stakeholders in the region to raise awareness and promote the area, and she’s active with the Texas Travel Alliance and the Texas Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus in planning and organizing industry conferences held in Beaumont/Port Arthur. She can always be counted on to step up and assist her partners, such as replenishing the Orange Travel Information Center’s inventory of 2021 Texas State Travel Guides from the Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Center’s supply when the center in Orange ran low near the end of the year. Her helpfulness and her bubbly, outgoing personality make working with her a genuine pleasure.
When the Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitors Center is impacted by hurricanes and floods that impact the Texas Gulf Coast, Hughes works tirelessly to make sure the center is a safe haven, well-maintained and welcoming to its many visitors.
The Gene Phillips Hospitality Award is named in honor of the late Gene Phillips, who managed Aquarena Springs in San Marcos and was an influential, driving force in the emerging tourism industry during the 1970s. Each year the award is presented by TxDOT Travel Information Division staff and recognizes one person for his or her outstanding accomplishments within the Texas travel and tourism industry.
This year’s conference will also recognize the 2022 Lone Star and Roadrunner award winners, who will be announced at the awards program on March 31.