Record 9.5 million visitors push Palm Beach County into full recovery from COVID-19, tourism chief says
Palm Beach County tourism officials will bid a fond farewell to 2023 with the knowledge that a record 9.5 visitors came to town, generating $84.2 million in bed tax revenue. Both numbers are records. Modest growth is forecast for 2024.
Palm Beach County’s once battered tourism industry has not only rebounded, but is in full recovery from COVID-19 as a record 9.5 million visitors poured into the area this year, the county’s top tourism executive said Tuesday.
“We can say the short answer is ‘yes,’ not only as a destination but the South Florida region,” said Milton Segarra, president and CEO of Discover the Palm Beaches. “We’re over COVID-19.”
The agency is forecasting “modest growth” for 2024, despite inflation’s role in keeping room rates high. And it expects to reach out more to the international market, which has trailed the domestic side during the pandemic recovery.
Speaking in an interview, Segarra said that the visitor numbers, along with a record collection of $82.4 million in bed taxes, provide the basis for the formation of a new strategic plan for the industry that will evolve over the 12 to 18 months.
Those same results, he acknowledged, gave the county commission the confidence to seek developer candidates to build a second headquarters hotel with 600 rooms next to the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach. The first one — a 400-room Hilton — opened in 2016.
“As we grow, we have been able to maintain the value of the brand and experience,” Segarra said of the county’s tourism community. “Our visitors feel OK with paying those rates because they are enjoying the experience. That’s why we have been able to maintain and surpass the goals for the bed tax.”
More hotels
There are 17 hotels either under construction or on the drawing boards across the county.
One hotel would be in the vicinity of the the convention center. Requests for proposals have been issued to attract a developer and select a site that would be “within walking distance of the convention center.”
“We are looking for a full service hotel operator and brand,” Segarra said. .
He added that the hotel would elevate the county’s ability to draw bigger conventions and business conferences when competing against other cities for the business.
“There are different groups that never look at us because we don’t have the number of rooms they need when they do their type of conventions,” he said. “Those are groups we are not getting right now.”
He said that the business generated by groups, conventions and “transient” corporate travelers is “pretty much close to 2019 levels,” the year before the COVID breakout all but slowed tourism to a halt.
The visitor numbers at non-hotel properties such as Airbnbs were up every month this year.
“I think at this point this is going to be a key in the development of the destination,” Segarra said. “The alternative lodging component is really important.”
Growing airline, train traffic
Palm Beach International Airport is seeing a lift in traffic from more than a dozen airlines that serve West Palm Beach.
Many including United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and low-cost carriers such as Avelo and Breeze have seasonal flights to and from to the Northeast and Midwest. JetBlue went so far as to schedule cross-country flights to Los Angeles for the holidays and into the early part of 2024.
The introduction of inter-city rail service to Orlando by Brightline from South Florida via stations in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton thus far holds promise as another major point of entry for tourists into the county. The rail line is heavily promoting destinations with fare deals and joint marketing programs along its 235-mile route that is anchored in Miami.
Although the agency has no numbers to assess what type of contribution Brightline is making to the tourism pool, Segarra suggested he likes the anecdotal evidence he has seen thus far.
“At least from the people you see on the trains, I think they are dong a good job in promoting the route,” he said.
“One of the most important drivers in any tourism development or area is access,” he added. “We have not only Brightline but Tri-Rail. That’s two different types of services, as well as driving and flying. The fact we have those elements as part of the access formula is very encouraging.”
‘Master plan’ for the future
Segarra said that within the coming year, the agency will be working with others to develop a “master plan for the destination,” which will determine “how we want to develop the industry for the residents and stakeholders.”
Among the questions he said:
- How much do we need to grow the industry? We don’t know that we want to do that.
- Are we going to expand tourism to underserved areas? Is that sustainable?
- What type of visitor management policies will we have in place to avoid over-tourism?”
For years, the Palm Beach County has been known nationally and abroad as a high-end resort destination that caters to luxury travelers. “It’s part of the DNA of our experience,” he said.
But now, he suggested, it’s time to examine how the county can best leverage the broad spectrum of destinations it has to offer, whether its the upscale lodging and shopping district of Boca Raton, the equestrian enclave of Wellington, or the golfing haven of Palm Beach Gardens.
“We have a good mix,” he said. “We have different layers of experience and different layers of options for our visitors. We want to make sure that we (not only) grow the industry, but that we do it in a different way where sustainability is the key.”