Texas toasts Vancouver agents on whirlwind FAM

Texas Tourism is currently hosting eight members of the travel industry from Vancouver on a five-day FAM of Dallas, Arlington & Fort Worth. The group flew to DFW on Air Canada's new nonstop route, inaugurated in early February.

The group spent the first day in Arlington, where we inspected the Hilton DoubleTree, Crowne Plaza and Hyatt Place hotels, all located near the City's major attractions. These hotels are perfect for FIT and group leisure travellers who are coming to the Dallas Fort Worth area.

The city of Arlington, population 400,000, is smack dab in between Dallas and Fort Worth. It is home to the first Six Flags amusement park (still in operation today), and of course the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. Next to tourism, Arlington's second largest employer is General Motors, with a plant pumping out Suburbans, Tahoes and Escalades.

Lunch was at J. Gilligan's, where chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken and Irish nachos are the house specialties. A short driving tour of downtown followed and a stop was made at the University of Texas at Arlington's Planetarium for a great stars show under the 60-ft dome.

The two biggest highlights of the day were our visits to Globe Life Park and the AT&T Stadium. Built in 1994, the open air Globe Life Park stadium is home to the Texas Rangers, with a capacity of 49,000, a real grass turf mowed and watered every day by caretakers holding masters degrees in horticulture.

At AT&T Stadium, the group was wowed with impressive stats - the largest enclosed NFL stadium, the world's largest domed structure, the world's largest TV screen(72'x160', weighing 600 tons), three million sq. ft. of space and a capacity level of over 100,000. We visited a private suite, the Dallas Cowboys & Cowgirls locker rooms and of course, had free time to roam on the turf for photo ops.

Stay tuned for the full FAM report, featuring Fort Worth and Dallas, where the group will be experiencing a cattle drive, a rodeo, and a visit to the Texas Motor Speedway.