by Rachel Witkowski
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville hotel and motel market is expanding rapidly but in order to continue growing, it needs the city to expand first. Read: build a larger convention center.
During the last 12 months, hotels and motels in Duval County have averaged a 93 percent occupancy rate, according to general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott, Donald Harris, who is also president of the Jacksonville Hotel and Motel Association.
“Right now, to date, we’re at 100 percent occupancy rate,” he said. “It’s like we’re on a train headed forward and we want to keep that train running on its track.”
An average of 10,000-15,000 visitors are staying in Duval County hotels per day, according to the Jacksonville and the Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau. The 6.6 million visitors who traveled to Northeast Florida in 2004 spent $2.5 billion on hotels, dining, shopping, entertainment and transportation — directly impacting the economy to the tune of $4.3 billion, the CVB stated.
But as the hotels, tourism and economy are expanding in Jacksonville, to continue growing, Harris said the area will need a larger convention center to attract more hotel business.
“It’s a real challenge to bring any convention here because we’re too small,” he said. “A lot of hotels have as much space as the convention center has.”
John Reyes, president of the CVB, said the Osborn Center has 78,500 square feet of meeting space and can accommodate 5 percent of the averaged size hotel conventions. Ideally, he said they would need 200,000 square feet to attract more businesses at the conventions.
“All of our competitors — Charlotte, Nashville — all have larger convention centers,” said Reyes.
The Association recently teamed with the CVB to develop plans to improve the Jacksonville economy through travel and the hotel market.
“It’s (the collaboration) a new model for the country, for our industry,” he said.
Both organizations will host two types of workshops: meetings with Mayor John Peyton and his staff, and town hall meetings with the hotel community. Reyes said their main goal in meeting with Peyton is to become a part of the Downtown vision.
“We’re about economic development,” he said. “If you bring people here for the conventions, they could move their business here, they could buy a house.”
Hotels provide a bed-tax to the City and a larger convention center would increase that tax, a tax that is divided among several entities. The 6 percent bed-tax is equally divided to fund Alltel Stadium, the Osborn Center and the Tourist Development Council.
“We just want to make sure that money is going toward the right thing,” said Harris.
In 2005, the county’s tourist/convention development real time tax was $15.8 million, according to the Tax Collector’s Office. Harris said he expects bed-taxes to increase an additional $2 million in 2006. The bed-tax dollars have increased since 2002, but the largest increase came last year when the bed-tax rose 8 percent. Overall, the bed-tax has risen 11 percent since 2004, according to figures provided by the Tax Collector’s Office.
Harris said another major problem with Jacksonville’s hotel success is providing entertainment to areas around hotels that don’t have a lot of commercial development. Areas such as Southpoint, which has the St. Johns Town Center and Tinseltown, attract more tourists and therefore, Southside hotels are more successful, said Harris.
The Association’s concerns will be presented during the meetings once Peyton responds. Harris and Reyes said they look forward to hearing from the mayor to continue the initiative.
“We just want to be a part of something,” said Harris. “Jacksonville, to me, is just absolutely on the brink if this breaks loose and I really want to be here to be a part of it.”