by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Since 1992, Florida’s First Coast of Golf has been marketing the Northeast Florida area to literally the rest of the world as a premier golf destination. With dozens of quality courses, a variety of hotels and resorts, activities for the non-golfer tourist, the PGA Tour headquarters and The Players Championship, the First Coast area has plenty to offer the golfer/tourist.
Thursday, FFCG President Dave Reese went in front of a subcommittee of the Duval County Tourist Development Council to state his case for an over $100,000 grant his organization is seeking to help market the area as a golf destination over the next year. In the past, the TDC has partnered with FFCG and most say the partnership has worked.
“I think the relationship is good and we need to keep it,” said TDC and City Council member Michael Corrigan. “My concern is, are we getting enough bang for the buck? Is Duval County getting enough people in hotel beds?”
Others on the subcommittee echoed those concerns. Sonny Bikha said he would like to see the partnership expanded from just six Duval County hotels. Bikha also wants to make sure the grant money will be used properly.
“In times like this, we must be prudent how we spend our money,” he said. “The room nights are an estimate, but I am not sure how good the estimates are.”
According to Reese, a formula is used to determine what percent of people staying in Duval County hotels are also playing golf at an area course. With an annual economic impact of $41.5 million in Duval County alone, that number is vital in determining where and how to spend marketing dollars. The numbers from December of last year indicate that tourists played 4,496 rounds of golf that month, a number that equates to 1,911 room nights.
“We are now being mentioned with the Carolinas and that’s a good thing,” said Reese.
The subcommittee approved a grant for $110,329. In August, the full TDC will consider the grant. Reese said the money will be used to promote the area as a golf destination and attract out-of-town visitors to area courses as well as hotels and resorts. This, he said, would be done through print and on-line advertising, consumer and trade shows and some broadcast advertising to external markets.
“Room nights in Duval County is our number one concern and should be,” said Reese.
One of the issues discussed was a better way to differentiate the golf tourist from someone visiting the area for other reasons. Reese said the courses don’t track that kind of information and it’s difficult for the hotels to accurately determine the reason for their guests’ visits.
It’s the same problem with all the hotels. “It’s very hard to track,” said Bikha.
Reese said two area hotels — the Hyatt and the Crowne Plaza — have links on their Web sites to a tee time service.
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