Carolyn DiPaoloVisitors will continue to flock here as the pace of growth levels to a post-pandemic normal.
The post-pandemic travel boom that drove double-digit growth in Palm Beach County visitors will settle into a slower pace, county leaders reported last week.
Why it matters: More than 9 million people traveled to Palm Beach County last year. Tourists help create 90,000 local jobs and pay sales taxes. They also pay a 6% bed tax that generated nearly $87 million in the last fiscal year.
What’s happening: Discover the Palm Beaches is the county’s tourism marketer. It shared plans to build on those record-breaking visits in a State of the Tourism Industry presentation Thursday to nearly 400 hoteliers, attractions czars, chamber of commerce execs and government leaders at the Kravis Center.
Here are five highlights:
- The Palm Beaches brand reaches hundreds of thousands of people on social media – more than 400,000 through its Instagram account alone.
- Discover plans to host 150 social influencers and launch an Instagram broadcast channel next year with the goal of driving direct hotel bookings.
- 150 hours of tourism video is planned for platforms including The Palm Beaches YouTube channel.
- One new video is the agency’s first one to promote the benefits of tourism to Palm Beach County residents. See it here.
- Discover is targeting travelers in these markets:
- Winter/spring: New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
- Summer/fall: Atlanta, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa
- International travelers (who stay longer and spend more): Toronto and Montreal, United Kingdom, Brazil, Colombia and Germany.
- Marketers also see potential to draw visitors from Dallas and Astros baseball fans from Houston.
- Expect to hear more about new programs to certify front-line hospitality employees and residents as tourism ambassadors.
- A new tourism information kiosk opened this fall at Palm Beach International Airport. It is one of 12 around the county.
- Watch for Discover to emphasize Palm Beach County’s abundance of parks and preserves beyond our beaches.
- Discover surveys 4,500 likely travelers each quarter to help understand how to create interest in visiting Palm Beach County.
- Three of 10 likely travelers reported using artificial intelligence to shop for deals. The challenge for tourism staff is to understand how to get Palm Beach attractions to the top of AI results.
In an illustration of the double-edged effect of last week’s presidential election, Discover board Chair Peter Yesawich predicted television cameras will relay scenic images of the 561 around the world for the next four years.
- Later, when the audience was asked to list weaknesses that threaten Palm Beach County’s brand, the words “Trump” and “politics” appeared as concerns behind only “expensive” and “traffic.”
What’s next: Discover’s CEO Milton Segarra and the Tourism Development Council have launched a 20-year master plan under a $550,000 contract with Frisco, Texas-based consultant CSL International.
You can follow the plan’s progress here and see a PDF of the project management plan here.
I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
