by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Chairing his first Tourist Development Council meeting Thursday, City Council President Jack Webb made clear that one of his goals is to attract more media attention for Jacksonville from the marketing and TV coverage of The Players Championship.
He also appointed a subcommittee to explore creating a regional tourism effort.
The Players Championship is held each year at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach in St. Johns County.
Last year, the TDC awarded a $25,000 grant to The Players Championship after the tournament requested $150,000 to develop a website that would promote the tournament; Visit Jacksonville, which is Duval County’s convention and visitors bureau; and Florida’s First Coast of Golf.
“I would support giving them more money if our brand was out there, but it’s not. Jacksonville is a redheaded stepchild,” said Webb, who as Council president chairs the TDC.
The TDC meets quarterly to coordinate tourist development efforts by both public and private agencies, identify and eliminate unnecessary duplications of effort and review spending from the Tourist Development Trust Fund, which is funded by the “bed tax” collected from guests who stay in Duval County hotel rooms.
TDC member M.G. Orender, who is president of Hampton Golf Clubs and a former president of the PGA of America, said The Players Championship tournament has as much regional economic impact as a Super Bowl, “and we don’t have to spend millions to get it.”
He also said that St. Johns County “gives the PGA Tour a lot of money.”
“We’re wise to support the event because of the benefit,” he said.
When the exposure for Jacksonville during the network television broadcast of this year’s tournament was discussed, it was noted that video of the city was shown several times, which was much more than in years past.
“There’s plenty to go around in 50 hours of television,” said Orender.
TDC member Fred Pozin said with several “truly regional” sports events, including the tournament, the Florida-Georgia football game and the Gator Bowl, he would support developing a regional agency to work with surrounding counties to promote sports tourism.
Webb then assigned Pozin to chair a subcommittee with Orender and TDC member David Potts to make recommendations concerning a regional effort similar to that in place for transportation issues.
That discussion followed a report from David Reese, president of Florida’s First Coast of Golf, concerning the state of golf-related tourism. Reese said that segment of the market is down 9 percent compared to last year, which is in line with the state average.
He also said Florida’s First Coast of Golf has retained The Dalton Agency to “freshen up” its image and is promoting the area as a destination to golfers in the eight NFL markets that are on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ visiting opponents roster this season. Advertising campaigns will also be placed in “Sports Illustrated” magazine and on The Golf Channel, said Reese.
Mya Surrency, interim president of Visit Jacksonville, reported about the organization’s marketing plan.
She said despite having one of the smallest marketing budgets in the state, comparable only to Tallahassee or Gainesville, Visit Jacksonville has maintained its group sales effort with seven sales managers focused on room-night generation.
Almost 59,000 rooms nights were booked in the last six months at more than 50 hotels with an economic impact of $29 million for Jacksonville. Nearly 500,000 tourism inquiries were processed through the agency’s website with a 30 percent conversion into the “booking engine,” the portal for individual room reservations.
For the first time in several years, Carter said, Visit Jacksonville has booked two groups that will fill hotels in all parts of the city and the medical tourism initiative accounted for 12,000 room nights in the past
year.
“It’s the strongest return we’ve ever had from a marketing campaign,” she said.
Action was deferred on two agenda items, a $250,000 grant to the City’s Office of Special Events for the Georgia-Florida Football Classic Weekend and a $250,000 grant for “Cheerin’ in the New Year,” a new event to support the Gator Bowl.
Both issues will be taken up at a special meeting of the TDC tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the day before the items could be presented at the City Council Finance Committee’s 2010-2011 budget hearing.
Webb said both the Georgia-Florida game and the Gator Bowl are “historical events” for Jacksonville and “New Year’s Eve is a chance to really blow the doors off for Gator Bowl.”
The TDC consists of nine members appointed by Council. In addition to the Council president, it includes two elected officials, three representatives of the accommodations industry subject to the tourist development tax and three other members involved in the tourism industry and tourism promotion.
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