This podcast contains comments from John Friebele of the city of Bryan's tourism office, Destination Bryan, during the April 13, 2021 Bryan city council meeting.

While last weekend's rain created another obstacle for local hotel operators, the first quarter of 2021 saw more hotel guests in the city of Bryan.

That was part of a report the Bryan city council received from the director of Bryan's tourism office.

John Friebele at Destination Bryan reported at the end of March, room nights were nearly four percent ahead of projections.

This year's goal of 300,000 room nights represents a 20 percent increase over last year. That's compared with almost 246,000 last year and 345,000 in 2019.

Friebele told the council what he described as an "aggressive" goal was set after "We looked at our community as a whole and it was much more resilient over 2020 versus the rest of the industry".

Last weekend, the cancellation of a softball tournament and the multiple sclerosis bike ride that combined were projected to bring more than 8,000 visitors to the twin cities.