Visit San Antonio paying $270,000 for city's restaurants to appear in Michelin Guide Texas

San Antonio's tourism-promotion group is coughing up $270,000 for the coveted Michelin Guide to include Alamo City restaurants in its annual rankings.

Last month, French tire company Michelin — publisher of one of the world's most-esteemed series of restaurant and hotel guidebooks — announced it will release its first-ever Michelin Guide Texas. The book, due out later this year, will include dining spots from five Lone Star State metros, including San Antonio.

However, those cities' inclusion came with a cost.

Visit San Antonio Vice President of Media and Communications David Gonzalez confirmed to the Current Tuesday that San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and Houston each are paying Michelin $270,000 over the next three years for its inspectors to review the cities' restaurants for the book.

The San Antonio Business Journal first reported that figure locally.

San Antonio's share of the cost burden is being funded by the city's hotel occupancy tax, according to Gonzalez.

"That's what Visit San Antonio is paying," he said. "It's not coming from the city, it's not funded by taxpayers, it's funded by visitors."

Texas' state-funded tourism organization, Travel Texas, is matching each city's total payment, meaning the total cost for bringing the Michelin Guide to Texas is $2.7 million, according the Business Journal 's math.

Citing a study by global consulting firm EY that Michelin shared with local officials, Visit San Antonio CEO Marc Anderson told SABJ the cost is justified. According to EY's analysis, "71% of travelers would increase their spending if a Michelin Guide selection existed in the city," Anderson said.

Michelin officials were unavailable at the Current 's press time to provide a copy of the study.

The cost of landing San Antonio in Michelin Guide Texas is the latest attempt by local leaders to subsidize the city's tourism and hospitality sector.

Last year, Visit San Antonio joined the city and private-public economic development group Greater: SATX in offering a combined $3.3 million in subsidies to German leisure airline Condor for a three-times-a-week seasonal direct flight to Frankfurt. However, Condor in June revealed that it will reduce its route to twice weekly starting in 2025.

The city, county and private sector also are reportedly working to assemble a $4 billion downtown sports district dubbed "Project Marvel." In addition to a new Spurs arena, that plan would include an expansion to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, which was last added to in 2016, and major upgrades to the tenantless Alamodome.

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