Florida Tourism Sets New Third-Quarter Record

While international travel remains below pre-pandemic levels, domestic visitors pushed tourism to new heights in the third quarter of 2024.

According to a media release from Visit Florida, the Sunshine State’s tourism marketing arm, more than 34 million visitors traveled to the state during the July to September quarter, an increase of 1.8% over the same period in 2023. The total represents the highest visitation ever in Florida for the third quarter.

This is the third consecutive quarter of record-setting visitation to the Sunshine State, according to the media release. Overall, through the first nine months of the year visitor traffic increased by three million compared with 2023.

In Volusia County, the July to September period represents the fourth quarter for the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, according to Executive Director Lori Campbell Baker.

“Overall, for our fiscal year 2023-24, which concluded at the end of September, we exceeded last year’s fiscal revenue, generating about $12 million in bed tax revenue,” she said. Bed tax collections, also known as the tourist development tax, provides funds for a variety of tourism development efforts including marketing and promotion, beach renourishment and capital improvements.

While Campbell Baker said the last quarter was down about 4% compared to 2023, she said weather issues and other external factors impacted the results.

Looking ahead, she said through the end of 2024 things should be roughly the same as last year.

“Following the recent hurricanes, the majority of our hotels are up and running, our restaurants and attractions are welcoming guests, and the 23 miles of world-famous shoreline are accessible and available. There are some impacted properties that are conducting repairs but should be opening soon.”

Campbell Baker said with new properties opening in the area and additional flights coming to Daytona Beach International Airport, the future looks bright for the destination.

“We are seeing significant investment in this community and we are optimistic about the future for the Daytona Beach area for both our visitors and residents alike,” she said.

The results were mixed in St. Johns County, where bed tax collections were down in July and September but up in August, according to Tera Meeks, St. Johns County Director of Tourism and Cultural Development.

“St, Johns County has seen incredibly strong growth in the tourism industry since Covid, which severely impacted a portion of fiscal year 2020,” she said. “As an illustration of this growth, annual tourist development tax revenue collections increased from $2.96 million in fiscal year 2019 to $4.64 million in fiscal year 2024. That is about a 57% increase in annual revenue collections in a five-year period.”

Meeks said while tourism appears to be levelling off somewhat, she expects the county to hold onto the growth experienced since the Covid-19 pandemic and projects a 2% growth in bed tax collections in 2025.

In Flagler County, Tourism Director Amy Lukasik said it is important to note that while the number of visitors increased in the July to September quarter, other important tourism metrics – average daily rate, occupancy and demand – were down from 2023.

“More people doesn’t always equal more in bed tax but will obviously affect other tourism sectors such as attractions, restaurants, etc., which is still a good thing,” she said.

Lukasik said Flagler County’s bed tax collections were 6.6% for the third quarter, which was in line with expectations. Some of that comes from the strength shown in the previous year.

“2023 was a year of record-breaking revenues due to an usually high average daily rate,” she said. “Especially from our luxury vacation rental market. This is what significantly contributed to our 2023 increase in revenues.”

Looking to the coming year, Lukasik said the county plans to budget for a 1% increase in tourist development tax collections. But there are things coming on the horizon.

“Industry experts are calling 2024 the year of stabilization,” she said. “The last hotel that was constructed in Flagler County was more than 15 years ago so we do look forward to the new 100-room hotel in Flagler Beach to come online in the second quarter of 2025. This is very exciting for us for a variety of reasons and it will be interesting to see how the new hotel will transform the tourism landscape for Flagler Beach and the local businesses that rely on visitors to keep their doors open.”