ODESSA, Texas — It's another sign that things are getting back to where they should be in west Texas. The Permian Basin International Oil Show was back in town and in full swing.
The oil show not only brings industry experts from the all over the world, but it also brings an economic boost. The last time the oil show happened was back in 2018, and it brought in over $23 million.
"In 2018, that’s the last time that it happened," Monica Tschauner, Discover Odessa's director, said. "We had an estimated, or an economic impact of $23.5 million so that’s a significant amount of impact. They shop in our stores, they eat in our restaurants, they attend concerts and the companies host events for their employees, and again they just continue to just put money into our community."
Final numbers from the 2021 oil show aren't available just yet, but Discover Odessa, who handles these figures said that there's reason to be hopeful. Based on preliminary numbers of the number of people who attended, the expectation is that this year should bring in more money than 2018.
"Just driving around town you can tell the traffic is thicker, but you know we’ve had restaurants reach out to us and ask if they needed more staffing because they know that this week has been historically busy," Tschauner said. "Our hotels have been occupied up to 60% and 75%, and that was about a week out, and they were anticipating being full."
All of that money stays local and gives boosts to areas that need it most.
"It impacts sales tax, and it impacts hotel occupancy tax," Tschauner said. "The sales tax helps with city protection, with the police department or the water or the roads. For hotel occupancy tax money that is brought in, that helps us promote the city of Odessa in a tourism manner."
Now, a year after being postponed, the oil show will continue every odd year moving forward.
"We do it about every other year," Kirk Edwards, president of Latigo Petroleum, said. "We didn’t have it last year because of the pandemic, but we’re starting every odd year now. Of course, it's the biggest thing that we have in west Texas when it’s going on."