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Updated August 2019.

This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of Travel Texas (“we,” “us” and/or “our”) in connection with our website, www.traveltexas.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains the types of personal information we collect, how we may use and share the information, and the privacy choices that you have with respect to our handling of personal information about you.

Click on the links below to jump to the different sections of our Privacy Policy:

How We Collect Information

We may collect personal information from various sources, including:

  • Directly from you, at your direction or with your consent
  • From our partners
  • Automatically, from devices that you use to connect to our Site
Type of Information We Collect

The types of personal information we collect may include:

  • Contact information, such as name, email address, postal address, and phone number
  • Demographic information, such as date of birth, gender, and zip code
  • Photographs, comments, or other content you submit to our Site or to us when you contact us
How We Use Your Information

We may use the information we collect to:

  • Respond to requests, questions and comments
  • Tailor the content we display to Site users in our communications, and in connection with the use of our Site
  • Provide you with newsletters, articles, and other information about events, things to do, and places to stay
  • Analyze and enhance our communications and strategies (including by identifying when emails have been received and read)

We may also aggregate any personal information that we collect in connection with our Site, such that the information is no longer personally identifiable or attributable to you. We may use such aggregated information for our own legitimate business purposes, including to research products and services that may be of interest to you.

How We Share Your Information

We may share the information we collect with:

  • Partners, including the Texas Department of Transportation for fulfillment of the Texas Travel Guide
  • At your direction with industry groups
  • Others within our enterprise
  • Service providers that perform services on our behalf or partners with whom we may collaborate, including:
    • Survey and market research providers
    • Technology providers (including technology support, email and web hosting providers, email and text communications providers, and mobile app developers)

We may also disclose personal information to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation, protect and defend our rights or property, protect the safety of Site users or the public, or to protect against legal liability.

Minors

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under age 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete that information.

Your Rights And Choices

You have certain rights in relation to your personal information, including the right to request access to your personal information, correct any mistakes on our records, erase or restrict records where they are no longer required, object to use of personal information based on legitimate business interests, and ask not to be subject to automated decision making if the decision produces legal or other significant effects on you.

We will respond to your request in writing, or orally if requested, as soon as practicable. We may request proof of identification to verify your request. For more details in relation to your rights, including how to exercise them, please contact us at privacy.traveltexas@gov.texas.gov.

Marketing

You may unsubscribe from receiving marketing or other commercial emails from us by following the instructions included in the email. However, even if you opt out of receiving such communications, we retain the right to send you non-marketing communications (such as information about changes to our Privacy Policy or Terms of Use).

Social Media Rules of Engagement 

The purpose of the Travel Texas Facebook page is to facilitate a mutual, ongoing dialogue between Travel Texas, its partners and current/potential travelers. We welcome your stories, questions and comments related to travel experiences in the Lone Star State.

This page is moderated, and we expect our participants to treat each other, as well as our organization, with respect. We reserve the right to remove comments that contain vulgar or abusive language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive terms. We will also remove comments that are spam, are clearly “off topic” or promote services/products.

Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be responded to as soon as possible, which in many cases means the next business day. We look forward to our conversations and the chance to serve as your Texas travel resource!

All Material ©2013 Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the written permission of the publisher.

Cookies and Advertising

We, our service providers, and our business partners may also collect certain information about the use of our Site by automated means, such as cookies, web beacons and other technologies.

We and our service providers and business partners may collect information about Site users’ online activities over time and across third-party websites. Because there is not yet a consensus on how entities should respond to web browser-based do-not-track (“DNT”) mechanisms, we do not respond to web browser-based DNT signals at this time.

The information that may be collected by automated means includes:

  • URLs that refer users to our Site
  • Search terms used to reach our Site
  • Details about the devices that are used to access our Site (such as IP address, browser type, and operating system information)
  • Details about users’ interaction with our Site (such as the date, time, frequency, and length of visits, and specific pages accessed during the visits)

Web browsers may offer users of our Site the ability to disable receiving certain types of cookies; however, if cookies are disabled, some features or functionality of our Site may not function correctly. To support and enhance the services, we may serve advertisements, and also allow third parties to serve advertisements, through the services. These advertisements are sometimes targeted and served to particular users and may come from third party companies called “ad networks.” Ad networks include third party ad servers, ad agencies, ad technology vendors and research firms. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these ad networks and other parties. Advertisements served through the services may be targeted to users who fit a certain general profile category, which may be inferred from information you provide to us, based on your services usage patterns, or based on your activity on Third Party Services (as defined in this Privacy Policy). We do not provide personal information to any ad networks for use other than in connection with the services. To learn more about ad networks and to adjust your preferences, please click here.

Some of our business partners that collect information about your activities on our Site may be members of organizations or programs that provide you with choices regarding the use of your browsing behavior for purposes of targeted advertising. For example, you may opt out of receiving targeted advertising on websites through members of the Network Advertising Initiative by clicking here or the Digital Advertising Alliance by clicking here. European users may opt out of receiving targeted advertising on websites through members of the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance by clicking here, selecting your country, and then clicking “Choices” (or similarly-titled link). Mobile app users may opt out of receiving targeted advertising in mobile apps through members of the Digital Advertising Alliance by installing the AppChoices mobile app, available here, and selecting your choices. Please note that we may also work with other entities that may offer their own opt-out mechanisms and may not participate in the opt-out mechanisms that we linked above.

Links to Other Websites and Third Party Content

We may provide links to other websites, services, social media content, and applications that are not operated or controlled by us (the “Third Party Services”). This Privacy Policy does not apply to the Third Party Services. While we attempt to facilitate access only to those Third Party Services that share our respect for your privacy, we cannot take responsibility for the content, privacy policies, or practices of those Third Party Services. We make no representations or warranty of any kind as to the accuracy or any other aspect of the information made available to you through Third Party Services, and we do not endorse or assume responsibility for the content, products, services, privacy practices, or viewpoints of any Third Party Services. We encourage you to review and understand the privacy practices of any Third Party Services before providing any information to or through them. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the Third Party Service that provides the feature.

International Data Transfers

We may transfer your personal information to countries other than the country in which you initially provided the information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. For example, if you are located outside of the United States, we typically transfer any information collected through the Site to the United States and process all personal information in the State of Texas, where we are located. The countries to which we transfer personal information may not guarantee the same level of protection for personal information as the one in which you reside.

How We Protect Information

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information we maintain against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.

Despite such efforts, however, please note that no organization can fully eliminate risks or guarantee the security of personal information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of information about you at any time, and we bear no liability for uses or disclosures of personal information or other data arising in connection with theft of the information or other malicious actions.

Data Retention

Our retention periods for personal information are based on our needs and legal requirements. We retain personal information for as long as is necessary for the processing purpose(s) for which the data was collected, and any other permissible, related purpose. When we no longer need the personal information we collect, we either anonymize the information (in which case, we may further retain and use the anonymized information) or securely destroy the information, unless required by applicable law to retain the information for a specific retention period.

Content Submitted by You

Some features of the Site allow you to post content on our Site or social media pages, such as photos. Content that you provide may be shared publicly or with other users or third parties. To learn more about our UGC Terms & Conditions, please click here.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We may at any time in our sole discretion revise or update this Privacy Policy. We will post any changes on this page and indicate at the top of this page the date this Privacy Policy was last revised. You may read a current, effective copy of this Privacy Policy at any time by visiting this page. We will also notify you of any material changes either through a pop-up notice, email or through other reasonable means.

State Privacy Rights

To the extent information collected about you is collected or maintained by a governmental body of the State of Texas, that information may be subject to public disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act (Texas Government Code, Chapter 552). Non-governmental email addresses are not subject to disclosure unless you affirmatively consent to the disclosure of your e-mail address.

Under Texas Government Code, Chapter 559, you are entitled, upon request, to: (i) know if information has been collected about that you by a state governmental body of the State of Texas; (ii) the receipt and review of the information any collected under sections 552.021 and 552.023 of the Texas Government Code; and (iii) the correction of inaccurate information under section 559.004 of the Texas Government Code, subject to any applicable exceptions. If you would like to request information about you that may be subject to this law, please submit a written request to us at: privacy.traveltexas@gov.texas.gov.

California Residents: Under California Civil Code sections 1798.83-1798.84, California residents are entitled to ask us for a notice identifying the categories of personal customer data which we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes, and providing contact information for such affiliates and/or third parties. If you are a California resident and would like information identifying the categories of personal information which we share with our affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes, and the contact information for such affiliates and/or third parties, please submit a written request to the following address: privacy.traveltexas@gov.texas.gov.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, requests or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at privacy.traveltexas@gov.texas.gov.

All Material © 2024 Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the written permission of the publisher.
Office of the Governor, Economic Development & Tourism 1100 San Jacinto, Austin, Texas 78701, (512) 463-2000