Writer: Caty Hirst
2 min read January 2022 — As business travel waned and sputtered during the COVID-19 pandemic — previously Jacksonville’s bread and butter for bringing in visitors — area officials were quick to overhaul marketing efforts and attract a new type of traveler: leisure.
“When COVID hit, we focused on marketing how to get out of the house and enjoy wide-open spaces like the beautiful outdoors, the park system and places to go and experience Jacksonville. We took advantage of the fact that those elements are incredible ambassadors for us,” President & CEO of Visit Jacksonville Michael Corrigan told Invest:.
Jacksonville, which pre-pandemic attracted huge numbers of visitors through business events, had to revamp its strategy and focus on attracting leisure visitors from both near and far, as most business meetings and events went virtual during the height of the pandemic. Added to that, business travel has yet to recover to its pre-pandemic highs. A study by the Global Business Travel Association projects global business travel won’t recover until 2024 — with travel spending falling 54% in 2020 to $661 billion. For 2022, business travel is expected to exceed $1 trillion, a marked improvement, but the industry is projecting a multi-year recovery.
As the city pivots to fully embrace leisure travel, new projects are on the horizon, including a master plan to create public access points to the river; an outdoor performing arts area, a proposed riverfront park and a plan to connect the TIAA Bank Field to downtown Jacksonville, Corrigan said.
“Jacksonville’s opportunity now is to look at its hotel inventory and determine the types of rooms we will need going forward to make it a stronger destination. What we need in Jacksonville are more full-service or resort properties. We are underserved in that area and I’m hoping developers and investors see it as an opportunity to take advantage of,” Corrigan said.
Example projects include a proposal to build a Four Seasons Hotel by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium on the riverfront, which would attract both business and travel visitors.
Bruce Fafard, CEO of the Museum of Science & History (MOSH), told Invest: that they are starting to see pre-pandemic numbers in new visitors.
“We were unsure of what 2021 would bring, but our summer was immensely successful. We had 8,000 children visit on field trips and 463 campers participate in our Discovery Camps over the summer, rivaling a pre-pandemic year as far as interest and attendance,” Fafard said.
The museum is also one of many organizations embracing technology in the post-pandemic era, as it embarks on its MOSH Genesis project and building a new, state-of-the-art facility on the Northbank.
According to Placer Labs, which measures foot traffic in America’s largest cities, tourism foot traffic in Jacksonville has recovered 126% from December 2019 to December 2021. The data aggregator measured foot-traffic for December 2021 3.16 million, compared to 2.49 million in December 2019.
Surrounding areas are also bouncing back, with the Amelia Island Tourism Development Council seeing a surge in visitors during the summer of 2021, after focusing its marketing efforts on pulling in regional visitors.
“With vaccination rates improving and consumer confidence growing, we’ve seen record visitation. The main challenge now is preparing for future growth in the shadow of another spike as COVID again is becoming an issue,” Gil Langley, president & CEO of the Amelia Island Tourist Development Council, told Invest:.
Langley expects the leisure tourism demand to continue in 2022, and that the meetings and events industry will recover by late 2023.
Another challenge facing the industry is a severe lack of staffing. During the pandemic, Langley said the Omni Amelia Island Resort had over 400 job positions it needed to fill. A lack of staffing has also led to an increase in hotel rates and a challenge in delivering high-quality services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 1,341 job openings across the US in Nov. 2021, compared to 1,696 in October and 1,520 in September.
The lack of staffing is forcing the retail and leisure industries to look at digital solutions, including online check-ins and the creation of online marketplaces.
Despite the challenges, area officials are optimistic that tourism will continue to recover in the Jacksonville area.
“Because of the way that we’re recovering, I think it’s sustainable. … I’m optimistic but I’m much more focused on two or three years from now when traveling anywhere will again be possible. That’s when we’re going to see the results of what we’re doing now. I think we are heading toward a very bright future,” Corrigan said.
