In 2006, Galveston hired a public relations firm to boost its image. One suggestion was to change its name to “City of Galveston Island,” but that was rejected. Another was to add the slogan “The Legend Continues” to promote Galveston’s legendary past of pirates and hurricanes.
 
 
Austin American Statesman
Galveston needs love
By Helen Anders | Saturday, December 9, 2006, 10:23 PM

Galveston, it seems, is worried about its image. And maybe that’s a good thing.

An Associated Press report says a survey of tourists showed that many think the beach is dirty and the city seedy. The city hired a Nashville, Tenn., firm to fix that. It recommended, and the city has adopted, the slogan, “The Legend Continues,” focusing on the city’s past, which included stays by pirate Jean Lafitte and, of course, the tragic 1900 hurricane that killed thousands and kept Galveston from becoming a major city.
 
Houston Chronicle
Dec. 1, 2006, 10:12AM
An island by any other name just wouldn’t be Galveston
City Council considers other ideas to promote it as a tourist stop
By RICHARD STEWART
 
GALVESTON — Friends of Galveston don’t have to worry because nobody’s in a rush to change its official name to the City of Galveston Island.

The proposed change was one of more than 50 suggestions made by North Star Destination Strategies, a Nashville-based company that conducted a $76,000, yearlong marketing study for the Galveston Island Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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Distefano said the name change isn’t really being considered.

The suggestion was made because many people who live outside of Texas don’t realize that this city is on an island of the same name. Including “Island” in the name would bolster Galveston’s island identity to those who don’t know it, he said.

Galveston got its first charter in 1839 from the Legislature of the Republic of Texas.

Both the city and the island got the name from Galveston Bay, which was named by Spanish cartographer José de Evia when he charted the Texas coast in 1785. He named it for his patron, Bernardo de Gálvez, the viceroy of Mexico.

Distefano said many other suggestions from North Star probably will be adopted by the bureau.

Among them, he said, would be a logo of a conch shell in the shape of the state of Texas and the tag line “The legend continues.”

Distefano said North Star gave him a thick stack of data it gathered about what Galvestonians think of their city and what potential visitors think.

If Galveston were a public figure, residents said, it would be a combination of Jimmy Buffett and Ernest Hemingway, Distefano said. “Laid back and friendly, but with a hint of adventure and full of tales.”

He said Galveston presents a unique combination of history and beaches. “We do a better job with our history than we do our beaches,” he said.

Lines for suggested ad campaigns include things like “Pirates hid out here, so can you.”
 
Houston Chronicle
Dec. 9, 2006, 10:50PM
Galveston trying to clean up its dirty image
By JOE STINEBAKER
Associated Press
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Every summer, droves of Houstonians and other Texans stomp along Galveston’s brownish-gray sand to take a summer dip in the tepid, murky Gulf waters that play host to jellyfish and strings of seaweed. Malibu it isn’t, they joke, but at least it’s close. But selling the town’s charms to tourists with other postcardlike options might be a tough sell.

Galveston was once the crown jewel of the Texas Gulf Coast. It was first used by the pirate Jean Lafitte and others as an out-of-the-way place to dump loot while cruising the Spanish Main. A major metropolis before Houston was on any map, Galveston was largely wiped out by a hurricane in 1900 that killed thousands and ended the city’s golden dreams.

Parts of the new tourism campaign by North Star Destination Strategies of Nashville, Tenn., reflect Galveston’s promoters’ desire to celebrate that history. The Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau already has adopted the recommended slogan: “The Legend Continues.”

But some parts of the report stung a bit. Criticism of the island’s cleanliness runs throughout the presentation, with comments about “not very pretty beaches,” “remarkably seedy” neighborhoods and the town’s “unpolished” reputation.