SpaceX tourism fuels rebranding in cities
STARBASE – On a gravel road less than four miles from the Starship launch site, a row of SpaceX “millionaire mansions” is rising next to private outposts where people pay to camp along the Rio Grande to watch liftoffs.
One of the sites, Keith Reynolds' Raptor Roost, drew 75 people for the most recent launch, more than doubling the occupancy from Starship's last flight in November. Each guest paid at least $150, arrived before authorities shut down Texas 4 and signed a liability waiver to be there for the launch.
A few lots away, dozens more gathered at an outpost called Rocket Ranch. In between, construction workers for the riverfront homes being built for SpaceX employees paused to watch Starship fly.
Across the bay on South Padre Island, hotels had a historic sellout the night before the launch, with space fans bolstering spring break crowds that descend on the beach destination each year. Other area cities also reported hotel sellouts. Rental car businesses sold out, too.
As with the first two, Starship's third launch was a boon for businesses across the region — and an apparent turning point in the evolution of SpaceX in South Texas. As launches become more regular and successful, the race among South Texas cities to nab space tourism dollars is ratcheting up.
Some signs of their efforts are easy to spot. Before the March 14 launch, a banner reading “Your Space Escape” welcomed people to South Padre Island. It's a play on the island's “Your Island Escape” branding, said Cindy Trevino, director of marketing for South Padre's convention and visitors bureau.
“We wanted to go full bore” in presenting South Texas as “the third space coast” along with Florida and California, said Blake Henry, executive director of the bureau.
About 20 miles west, Brownsville has been angling for its piece of the action, too.
Two years ago, the commercial space company's rapid growth inspired that city to tweak its motto from “On the border, by the sea” to “On the border, by the sea and beyond!”
More recently, Visit Brownsville, the city's visitors bureau, leaned further into space-themed branding by adopting the moniker “Newspace City.” The bureau's website highlights “the space era for Brownsville,” with information about Boca Chica Beach closures and how to visit Starbase.
Other area cities are following suit as South Texas space tourism hits its stride.
Sellout a first
In a first for South Padre, Henry said, the island's hotels sold out March 13, the night before the latest launch. Though total visitor numbers weren't yet available, he said November's launch drew about 11,000 people to South Padre.
As they've worked on their new marketing plan, Henry and his team have been studying how Florida communities around Cape Canaveral have worked to attract space tourism dollars in the 65 years since NASA established its base of operations there.
One lesson they've learned is that it's important to keep tourists engaged when rocket launches are delayed or canceled. Schedule changes create “a captured audience,” he said, so South Padre has developed online itineraries with other activities on the island and across the region.
Now they're looking at how to expand their reach with SpaceX online influencers who have vast followings. Many of them already have a presence around Starbase, so they are good conduits for marketing.
“I think SpaceX reaches such a global market it's our opportunity to build brand awareness for South Padre Island,” Henry said. “You got to get them to Texas first.”
He sees SpaceX's promise of increasingly regular launches – it's aiming for as many as nine this year – as a marketing opportunity for the region.
“More people actively talking about SpaceX and the successful launch, their intentions of doing this on a regular basis, that's going to bring more conversation around here regarding economic development,” Henry said.
One project that will help, he said, is the $90 million to $100 million expansion of the island's convention center set for groundbreaking this year. It will double the center's size from 25,000 to 50,000 square feet. That could provide a venue for launch-related events in the future.
But Henry knows other area cities are making plans, too.
“We have friends in McAllen. We have friends in Brownsville. We have friends in Harlingen, and, you know, they're just one phone call away,” he said. “But for us, we're the gem of the valley here, so we sort of … set the tone when it comes to SpaceX launches and all that kind of stuff, I think.”
Newspace City
Malinalli “Mali'' Montesam, manager of the Brownsville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the city is creating an Office of Space Commerce that will be part of the bureau. The effort began in
October.
Its goal is “basically bringing in and attracting more tourism related to space tourism,” she said, “and getting organizations that can provide services to the space industry to establish here in the city.”
South Padre wasn't alone in selling out rooms ahead of the last launch.
Montesam said hotels in Brownsville and Matamoros also sold out in the days leading up to the launch.
“Since Starbase is so close to the Matamoros beach, which is Playa Bagdad, we also receive thousands of visitors from all over,” she said. “Their hotels were also sold out during those two days.”
Brownsville had about 11,400 visitors ahead of the launch, she said, with about 4,100 coming from the U.S., an equal number from Mexico and 3,200 from other countries.
While spring break also brought people to the area, she said occupancy rates were similar to the town's busy season in the summer or the visitors it gets for special events such as Charro Days or the Sombrero Festival, both of which draw thousands.
The Brownsville visitors bureau works closely with its counterparts in South Padre Island, Harlingen, McAllen and other nearby communities as well, Montesam said.
“I haven't gotten any numbers from Harlingen or McAllen, but I'm pretty sure they do get a lot of traffic during those launches as well,” she said.
Brownsville is also working with outside influencers on public engagement, and Montesam said it's working with SpaceX itself.
“We did a prelaunch conference with SpaceX and just giving out a few details on behalf of SpaceX” before the last launch, she said. “We had the Starbase manager there. It was like a Q&A session just to answer our partners and mainly if the community had any questions.”
She hopes to continue such prelaunch events “if SpaceX and Starbase allow it.” Public post-launch parties are also being planned.
Rio Grande outposts
Outside the cities and their hotels, Rio Grande outposts provide an upclose, and more rustic, option for SpaceX fans.
On the Friday afternoon after Starship flew, Raptor Roost owner Reynolds stood on his wooden viewing platform and looked toward the launch site. A Tesla Cybertruck sped by, heading toward one of the SpaceX employee mansions under construction down Tarpon Haven Road. He calls them “millionaire mansions.”
“They're kind of different, you know; it's a bunch of kids,” he said of SpaceX workers. “It's a bunch of Doogie Howsers running around. They're smart. They're really smart, but they don't have good sense all the time.”
For years, Reynolds was one of the few residents on this stretch of land off Texas 4 — the last crossroad before the SpaceX facilities. At the time, Mexican fishermen illegally gill netting in the Rio Grande were a bigger hassle than exploding rockets or immature neighbors.
This year, his riverfront property is at the epicenter of a new space race. And his new neighbors aren't always neighborly.
“I'm not saying that in a bad way. They haven't bothered to say hi, goodbye or anything else,” Reynolds said. “They haven't been necessarily bad neighbors, but there's some stuff they are doing that's wrong.”
He said subcontractors building the neighboring mansions trespass on empty lots owned by others, construction crews rushing to finish one of the homes ran generators and lights overnight, and SpaceX security crews rake their spotlights across his property during their patrols.
Still, he said, he's a fan of SpaceX, Starship and Elon Musk, and he wants them to succeed.
Though area cities are gearing up for a new rush, Raptor Roost and Rocket Ranch have been hosting people to watch the launches for several years. At first, it was just a few local photographers and Starship followers, Reynolds said, but he expanded his offerings beginning with the April 20 launch.
He hosted about 20 people for that flight last year. The number increased to 30 for the November liftoff and more than doubled to 75 for the March launch.
Reynolds' Rio Grande outpost provides little more than a place to park and pitch a tent, camaraderie with space fans from around the world, a portable toilet, and the prospect of epic views of Starship lumbering skyward. People bring their own food and water, and they share it with others.
He's already planning how to accommodate more people for the next launch, which a SpaceX official said could be in early May.
“I've already got people wanting to hand me money for IFT-4,” Reynolds said, using SpaceX lingo for the fourth launch. Even with additional parking, he expects to sell out.
“We just need more room to accommodate more people who want to want to do this – this is fun,” he said.
“It's fun for me, you know, even though I live here in total solitude, privacy – I go a week without seeing a person. The only way to keep my sanity is to embrace it.”