Foreign Visitors Boost Volusia Tourism Efforts

As a popular destination for day trippers, vacationers and residents, New Smyrna Beach sees its share of visitors every day. While they may be looking for different experie

Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Commerce set a goal of attracting 90 million international visitors annually to the United States by 2027. That milestone is expected to happen a year earlier, and Daytona Beach helped.

While the overwhelming majority of visitors to the World’s Most Famous Beach are from domestic travel, the area does attract its share of international travelers, according to Lori Campbell Baker, executive director of the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“We don’t have an exact number, but in the past we’ve estimated that approximately 8 to 10% of our annual visitors are from outside the U.S.,” she said. “While approximately 90% of our visitors are from within the U.S. – with about 40% from within Florida – we know that international visitors are extremely important. Canada has always been strong for us, and we reach out to them regularly. We also target UK travelers via travel agents and tour operators. Brazil is on the list as well.

In the Commerce Department announcement, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said tourism is an important driver for the U.S. economy.

“(T)ravel and tourism continue to be critical drivers of economic growth and employment across the United States, supporting 9.5 million American jobs and $2.3 trillion of economic output per year,” she said in the media release.

According to figures released by the Commerce Department, foreign travel to the U.S. increased by nearly 250% from 2020 to 2023.

“As a result of international visitation to the United States outpacing travel to the rest of the world, our country’s share of global travel increased from 4.7% in 2020 to 5.2% in 2023,” Raimondo said in the release.

The international visitor goal is part of the National Travel and Tourism Strategy adopted by the department in 2022. The plan focuses on four pillars, promoting the United States as a travel destination; facilitating travel to and within the U.S.; ensuring diverse, inclusive and accessible tourism experiences; and fostering resilient and sustainable travel and tourism.

On the local level that includes marketing the destination internationally through a variety of means.

“We currently contract with a marketing agency in the United Kingdom and could potentially secure a marketing agency in Canada for the 2024-25 fiscal year,” Cambell Baker said. “We’ve also recently hosted a familiarization tour with Brazilian media and tour operators as well as content creators and journalists from Brazil, Colombia and Germany.”

Foreign visitors also have discovered Volusia County’s west side, despite limited international marketing efforts by the West Volusia Advertising Authority, according to Georgia Turner, Authority executive director.

“At this time, because of our small $1 million budget, our focus is on in-state advertising to bring in visitors,” she said. “However, we have many international visitors coming to our major attractions such as Blue Springs State Park, DeLeon Springs State Park, Stetson University and Stetson Mansion.”

At a recent New Smyrna Beach City Commission meeting, city officials heard an update to a paring study being conducted by Ormond traffic engineering planning firm LTG Inc.

“As you know, we hired LTG to do our parking study,” City Manager Khalid Resheidat told commissioners. “They started almost three months ago (and) they have done such a good job.”

Resheidat said the city has scheduled a public meeting for Aug. 1 at the Brannon Center on Riverside Drive for residents to hear more about the study and offer feedback.

“After the meeting that we have on Aug. 1, we will make a big presentation to the Commission as a workshop based on the public meeting and also based on the data (LTG) has collected and the ideas they’ve come up with,” he said.

After Resheidat’s remarks, Consultant Carrie Carl from LTG gave a short overview of the work done to date.

“We started by reviewing your past parking studies and prior task force presentations,” she said. “It is clear that this city is not without an abundance of solid ideas and potential solutions to address your parking issue.”

Carl said the parking study focuses on Flagler Avenue, Canal Street and the Venetian Bay Town Center and includes information provided by Volusia County officials.

“Volusia County has been very supportive of the city providing beach toll data,” she said, to help get an accurate assessment of the traffic volume headed to the affected areas. “For context, if you look at eastbound traffic going over your north and south causeways, it’s about 15,000 on any given day,”

Carl said the study also utilizes GPS and cell phone data along with visual counts of parking as well as speaking with a variety of individuals and groups.

“We’ve had good discussions with some stakeholders that include the Southeast Volusia Chamber,” she said.

Another area the consultants looked at is population growth projections.

“We looked at population, focused on the Orlando metro area,” she said. “The reason is you have such a draw from there. The Orlando area has been growing.”

Carl said the final report is expected to be submitted by the end of September.