The parties agree to cooperate on developing and promoting Texas as a premier travel destination in 13 subject areas. The subject areas and each agency's responsibilities are as follows.

1. (1) Marketing.

   1. (A) Commerce, TxDOT and TPWD will form a tri-agency marketing group that will develop guidelines and policies to encourage the use of a unified travel and tourism marketing theme for the state. The current theme is "Texas. It's Like a Whole Other Country." The tri-agency marketing group will be comprised of the executive directors of the three agencies or their designees. Other staff members from the three agencies may be brought into the meetings of the tri-agency marketing group to provide expertise on certain issues. These other staff members, however, will not have decision-making authority. The tri-agency marketing group will meet quarterly. Decisions of the tri-agency marketing group will be made by consensus.
   2. (B) The mission of the tri-agency marketing group will be to guide and coordinate the statewide travel-related advertisements, promotions, media relations, and collateral pieces of the three agencies. The tri-agency marketing group will advise and make recommendations on the appropriate tone and message for the marketing efforts of the three agencies. Each agency will pay for its own marketing and promotional activities. Each agency will be responsible for ensuring that its statewide marketing, promotional, and informational materials use the consistent message developed and adhere to the guidelines established by the tri-agency marketing group.
   3. (C) Commerce owns the trademark to "Texas. It's Like a Whole Other Country." Commerce will develop a licensing agreement with TxDOT and TPWD to allow them to use this trademarked theme.
2. (2) Magazines. The magazine staffs of Texas Highways and Texas Parks & Wildlife and the media staff from Commerce will meet at least twice a year to address opportunities that promise to enhance Texas travel and tourism through these two magazines. Information of mutual interest and opportunities for sharing resources will be included in these meetings.
3. (3) TOURTEX 2000. TxDOT serves as the lead agency in developing and managing the TOURTEX 2000 electronic information system. TxDOT will operate and be responsible for the financial support of TOURTEX 2000. TxDOT will solicit partnerships for the system with local chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, or city tourism offices. Commerce will assist TxDOT in the development of a trade component for the system so that detailed information for tour operators and travel agents may be provided electronically. All three agencies agree to investigate additional methods of marketing and other potential outlets for the travel information.
4. (4) Travel information centers. TxDOT will continue to operate and fund TxDOT's existing travel information centers. TxDOT will continue providing collateral materials and advice to city information centers in an effort to expand state traveler information throughout Texas. TPWD will consider using facilities at state parks as distribution points for travel information. Commerce and TPWD will support the development of the travel information centers and may provide information to them when appropriate.
5. (5) Photo files. Commerce, TxDOT, and TPWD will investigate the feasibility of establishing a single photo library that will house a majority of images owned by the three agencies. This will be an ADA compatible, "one stop shop" for public use. The photo library may be housed in one of the agency's existing libraries or in a separate location. The facility housing this collection should meet ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards for storage and preservation of photographic materials. Each agency may retain some images specific to its marketing campaigns, magazines and promotions. In addition, each agency will retain its own historical or documentary photos pertaining to its mission and history.

6. (6) Shows.

   1. (A) The tri-agency marketing group will develop a comprehensive marketing plan for the three agencies' participation in various consumer and travel trade shows/initiatives. These shows may be in-state, out-of-state, or international. The tri-agency marketing group will decide upon the show schedule prior to fiscal year budget planning deadlines. Each of the three agencies may play a role in staffing the shows, depending upon each agency's focus and budget restrictions. Each agency will be responsible for its participation costs at such trade shows.
   2. (B) The agencies will use a unified travel and tourism marketing theme in a manner appropriate for each show. Texas ancillary products and magazines may be promoted at these shows.
   3. (C) Commerce will be the prime Texas representative at out-of-state and international trade shows. TxDOT and TPWD may participate at other shows with collateral materials and staff where appropriate.

7. (7) Research/information sharing.

   1. (A) The three agencies will meet quarterly to discuss research work plans and projects to ensure that the state's research is comprehensive and appropriate to guide the marketing and promotional activities of the three agencies.
   2. (B) Commerce will take the lead in conducting and gathering Texas tourism research. TxDOT and TPWD may conduct other research independently. Each agency will pay for its own research or share costs as may be identified in the research work plans. The three agencies will distribute their new research publications, as they are completed and become available, to the other agencies.
8. (8) Community profiles. Commerce maintains a computer database containing community profiles for use by communities seeking business prospects or funding from public and private sources. Commerce will continue to develop this system and will provide TxDOT and TPWD access to it.

9. (9) Community education/training.

   1. (A) Commerce will take the lead in organizing community training and education for tourism development. TxDOT and TPWD will assist in the organization and sponsorship of these community training sessions, together with other state, regional and local organizations. Training sessions may include nature tourism, hospitality training, development and funding techniques, and the integration of existing training offered by TxDOT to its travel counselors.
   2. (B) In addition, Commerce will assist communities through development booklets, tip sheets, and basic counseling/assistance over the telephone. TPWD will offer nature tourism outreach and assistance through various means.
10. (10) Tourism business assistance. Commerce will play a lead role in providing information and contacts to companies and individuals seeking to develop tourism-related properties and attractions. TxDOT and TPWD may provide expertise in this area when needed.
11. (11) 1-800 numbers. Commerce, TxDOT, and TPWD each maintain toll-free telephone numbers for different purposes (advertising fulfillment, travel counseling, and weather conditions, etc.). The three agencies will investigate the feasibility of combining some of these lines. In addition, the three agencies will form a team of individuals from the entities involved in the operation of the state's main 1-800 number (1-800-8888-TEX). This main 1-800 line handles inquiries to the state's tourism advertising campaign. This team will work to ensure the efficient operation of the 1-800 number and coordinate activities between the 1-800 number and fulfillment operations.

12. (12) Fulfillment operation.

    1. (A) Fulfillment refers to the act of responding to a request for consumer travel information. TxDOT serves as the lead agency in travel literature fulfillment. TxDOT will manage the state's main fulfillment operation, providing information to inquiries generated by the state's advertising and other marketing efforts. These inquiries may be from phone calls, coupons, tip-in cards, or other means. Commerce will provide TxDOT with quality inquiries from tip-in cards and the main 1-800 number line in a timely fashion for TxDOT to fulfill.
    2. (B) The three agencies agree that the level of the state's advertising program has budget implications for each of the agencies. Because the volume of travel literature requests directly drives TxDOT's budget expenditure in production and fulfillment operations, the three agencies agree to make the best possible projections of annual fulfillments so that accurate budgets may be formulated.
    3. (C) TxDOT will manage and pay for materials, postage, and labor for the fulfillment of inquiries from the general public. Commerce will manage and pay for postage and labor to fulfill inquiries generated from travel trade marketing efforts. TxDOT will pay only for TxDOT-produced travel literature for travel trade inquiries.
    4. (D) As the lead fulfillment agency, TxDOT is responsible for the final accuracy and management of the master data file. Until all daily file corrections have been made, none of the three agencies will use the data for statistical or reporting purposes. Only correct and complete data entries will be loaded onto the TRAX database.
    5. (E) This fulfillment operation agreement does not provide for any magazine or ancillary products fulfillment operations.

13. (13) Collateral Materials.

    1. (A) TxDOT will provide a Travel Literature Unit to produce most travel-related and tourism-related publications required by Commerce, TxDOT and TPWD. This unit will be composed of TxDOT employees who will work directly with individuals from the three agencies to ensure that the pieces meet the needs of their intended audiences, are completed in a timely manner, and fall within budget.
    2. (B) The three agencies agree that TxDOT's Travel Literature Unit must be kept informed about budgeted publications of all three agencies early enough to incorporate resource needs. A means of timely and accurate communication of this information will be established by the tri-agency marketing group.
    3. (C) Examples of tasks performed by the TxDOT unit include writing specifications for contracting outside services, setting deadlines, editing, designing, and overseeing quality control of the publications. Advertising sales will remain with each respective agency.
    4. (D) The tri-agency marketing group will provide general guidance towards maintaining consistency among all Texas travel publications, while allowing for differentiated attributes necessary for individual pieces to meet their intended purposes. The tri-agency marketing group will recommend appropriate methods to ensure equitable agency contributions to TxDOT of the costs of shared resources and indirect costs of each agency's own publications. The tri-agency group also will resolve any problems concerning the application of available resources and completion dates for various publication projects.
    5. (E) Each agency reserves the right to produce its own collateral materials when desired or appropriate.

Source Note:The provisions of this §23.42 adopted to be effective July 9, 1996, 21 TexReg 5980.