Houston's Tourist and Cultural Attractions Are Open

It has been a mere two months since Hurricane Harvey struck Houston, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and killing 49 people.

Still, life in the city has all but returned to normal.

Many of the Houston's biggest attractions have reopened including Space Center Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Galleria shopping center, according to The New York Times.

The majority of Houston's hotels and restaurants have also reopened.

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However being open for business and being fully recovered are two different things. For the tourism industry, true recovery will involve convincing travelers the city is a good place to visit.

“There’s a misconception that Houston’s in a bad place,” Chris Shepherd chef at Houston’s Underbelly, told The New York Times. “We had a lot of people affected in this city, and a lot of people are still trying to figure it out, so of course you’re going to have a loss of business. But it’s starting to come back.”

While Houston never attracted the same volume of travelers as places such as Austin or San Antonio, it did have a record year last year reaching 20 million visitors.

The city developed momentum as a tourist destination based on its variety of cultural attractions and noteworthy restaurant scene.

Some of the city’s cultural attractions, however, did not escape the hurricane unscathed and are still working on repairs.

The city’s downtown theater district was impacted by widespread flooding. The basement of Jones Hall, which houses the Houston Symphony, was filled with water.

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A recently renovated stage at Alley Theater was also destroyed along with sets and costumes.

Meanwhile, at the Wortham Theater Center, water was nearly as high as the main stage. The facility, which was the location of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet, will be out of business for at least one year.

The ballet, symphony and Alley Theater have all moved this season’s performances to other venues around the city.

The Houston Grand Opera built a new venue, called Resilience Theater, inside the George R. Brown Convention Center.

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