The tourism industry brought 8.2 million visitors to Jacksonville who booked 4.99 million room nights and spent $4.1 billion in direct spending in fiscal year 2024.
The 6% hospitality tax paid on hotel room rentals has totaled more than $30 million annually for the past three years.
Nearly half (45%) of Jacksonville’s visitors stay in paid accommodations, more than half of Jacksonville’s visitors come to the area to visit friends and relatives, and the industry supports 59,600 jobs, according to data from Visit Jacksonville, the convention and visitors bureau for Jacksonville and the Beaches.
International events, politics and the U.S. and global economies could change those numbers, said Michael Corrigan, president and CEO of Visit Jacksonville.
“The most significant challenge for the upcoming year is determining if the current economy will slow down tourism. After seven consecutive months of record hotel revenue in Jacksonville, we anticipate a potential decrease in the coming months. This may be driven by travelers taking fewer vacations and the national impact of reduced international travel,” Corrigan said.
Jacksonville probably won’t see as much tourism decline as some other destinations have after recent tariffs put in place by the Trump administration.
“We are fortunate that only a small percentage of our visitation is international. Other destinations that depend on this market have already seen visitor numbers decline. While our exposure is limited, we are watching the situation closely and expect to see some impact in the months ahead,” Corrigan said.
There is a segment of Jacksonville’s annual tourism inventory that will take a big hit in the next couple of years: football.
With EverBank Stadium undergoing extensive renovations, the Jacksonville Jaguars will play the 2025 and 2026 seasons with reduced capacity and the 2027 season away from home.
The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl also will be played in 2026 at reduced capacity. The annual University of Florida vs. University of Georgia game will play in Atlanta and Tampa in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The new stadium is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2028 football season.
Corrigan said having fewer seats for fans and losing some games to other markets will have a major impact on hotels.
“We estimate a loss of 125,000 hotel room nights annually. To fill this gap, we have launched group incentive campaigns to book more conferences. We are also mobilizing our local community through the ‘Bring it Home, Jax!’ campaign, asking residents to help support visitation when we need it most,” Corrigan said.
A strategic plan for Jacksonville
Of the 6% hospitality tax on hotel room rental, 4% is earmarked for debt service on the new stadium.
The Duval County Tourist Development Council administers the remaining 2%, spending it each year on grants for events and the contract with Visit Jacksonville for destination marketing and business and leisure tourism promotion.
The TDC’s share of the hospitality tax was $10.4 million in FY 2023-24. Collections this year through April total about $6.3 million.
The TDC and Visit Jacksonville commissioned Tallahassee-based Downs & St. Germain Research to evaluate the local tourism market and survey stakeholders to guide future destination marketing.
The $250,000 project was conducted over two years and in two phases.
The first phase comprised market analysis and visitor profiles. The second phase was developing the Tourism Strategic Plan released June 16.
Data was gathered from more than 80 participants in seven focus groups, nearly 150 responses to a stakeholder survey, more than 400 responses to a visitor perception survey and more than 400 responses to a resident sentiment survey.
The question driving the study and development of the strategic plan was: “Which types of investments by the TDC and Visit Jacksonville will have the greatest impact on growing tourism in Jacksonville?”
The strategic plan recommends investment categories and actions:
Destination marketing and messaging
The strategic plan states that Visit Jacksonville’s strongest core function, marketing, remains its most powerful tool for shaping perceptions and inspiring visitation.
Stakeholders overwhelmingly agreed that continued and expanded marketing efforts should be a central investment priority.
Research also revealed that nonvisitors lack clarity on what Jacksonville offers, and many are unaware of its diverse neighborhoods and cultural identity.
Recommendations include expanding marketing campaign focus beyond sports and beaches to neighborhoods; and creating engaging tools such as trip matchers and personalized itineraries.
Event development and support
Events were consistently cited by stakeholders and visitors as a motivator for travel and a key opportunity to improve the city’s tourism appeal.
Survey data also revealed strong interest in an updated event grant model, one that values not only economic impact in the form of hotel rooms nights and other spending by visitors, but community enrichment and geographic inclusivity as well.
Events are rated by residents as having a high positive impact on quality of life. Stakeholders support new criteria for event grants beyond selling hotel rooms.
Recommendations include evolving event grant scoring to reward neighborhood impact and local partnerships; encouraging use of unique venues in underserved areas; and investing in new, identity-driven iconic events.
Meetings, conventions and group tourism
The study found that Jacksonville has the opportunity to grow its group and meetings sector without solely relying on expanded convention infrastructure.
Stakeholders emphasized that showcasing nontraditional, community-based venues could simultaneously disperse visitors, reduce pressure on core facilities and enhance the overall attendee experience.
Recommendations include developing a central partner portal for alternative venues, grant scoring that rewards creative venue use and promoting group tourism tied to community assets and dispersal.
\Neighborhoods and business engagement
The plan states that there is a strategic opportunity to position Jacksonville’s neighborhoods as the primary storytelling framework for the destination.
Rather than a static list on a website, the neighborhoods can become a front-facing organizing principle, used to define trip types, event ideas, marketing segments and experiential itineraries.
Jacksonville’s diversity should be a core part of how the city is introduced.
In the event grant program, events hosted in distinctive neighborhoods can be supported, even if they don’t immediately generate hotel stays, because they contribute to the city’s long-term brand value.
Meeting and event planners can be encouraged to explore lesser-known districts, giving attendees a broader and more authentic experience of the city.
Through a capital improvement program, neighborhood-specific enhancements can support walkability, signage and visual identity, improving the visitor journey at a micro level.
Although the TDC has historically contributed to capital initiatives, there is currently no formal grant mechanism or structured evaluation framework guiding these investments.
The survey found that 91% of stakeholders would be “very” or “somewhat” supportive of a formal capital improvement grant program and 28% identified capital improvement grants as one of the top three investment areas that would most benefit tourism in Jacksonville.
That support aligns with the types of improvements stakeholders said would most enhance the visitor experience.
Recommendations from stakeholders include new attractions and activities along the riverfront, enhanced safety and cleanliness of infrastructure in public areas and functional docking areas and accessible water-based transportation such as boat tours.
The plan suggests reimagining and restructuring the TDC’s event grant program to support a wider range of event types, with funding criteria that go beyond hotel room nights to include cultural relevance, geographic dispersal, seasonality and community impact. That would allow for multi-year grant commitments for recurring events that demonstrate strong return potential; and support for neighborhood-based and equity-focused festivals that may not drive immediate room nights but contribute to broader destination appeal.
It said the TDC should consider supporting the development or incubation of one or more new iconic events such as a waterfront light festival, a music and food celebration or a multicultural arts event that can be branded as uniquely Jacksonville.
Stakeholders expressed openness to that kind of start-up effort, particularly if the event is developed in partnership with local creatives, venues and businesses and is positioned to grow over time.
Downs & St. Germain concluded that a well-designed capital improvement grant program would allow the TDC and Visit Jacksonville to proactively shape tourism development by supporting strategic infrastructure and placemaking projects that fall outside the scope of traditional city services, but are essential to a positive and marketable visitor experience.
Future investments, whether in marketing, events, infrastructure or partnerships, should ask, “How does this help reveal, connect or elevate the unique neighborhoods that define Jacksonville?”
Corrigan said the Tourism Strategic Plan provides a “valuable roadmap for the future” that will enable the TDC to better support a wider range of local businesses and events.
“For Visit Jacksonville, the plan emphasizes a greater focus on marketing our city’s diverse neighborhoods, introducing more unique venues as options for events, and strengthening our program to engage residents as tourism ambassadors. These initiatives give us a powerful opportunity to tell Jacksonville’s unique stories and showcase the distinct character of our communities,” he said.
