COME ON DOWN Daytona Beach Hotels are Open and Ready for Business
Posted on 10/26/2016
Just two weeks after Hurricane Matthew skirted Florida’s east coast, the majority of Daytona Beach area hotels are open including the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, the area’s largest hotel.
“We’ve heard a few rumors that we won’t be ready for the fall season,” said Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) executive director Lori Campbell Baker, “and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Our area got international attention when we hosted our popular Oct. 13-16 Biketoberfest motorcycle rally just days after the storm passed, and the staff of Visit Florida helped us to welcome this increasingly loyal crowd.”
“We’re in touch with our lodging partners daily,” said Baker “and I’m very happy to report that as of this morning the vast majority are open for business. Our local businesses are looking forward to the economic impact that visitors bring to our destination and we’ve got plenty of room capacity to host our incoming fall visitors.”
In addition to letting visitors know that the majority of hotels are open and ready to welcome guests, the CVB is also letting tour operators and meeting planners know that meeting space is available.
Shriners Imperial Officer Gary Bergenske was in Daytona Beach attending a group meeting last week.
“After a visit to the Daytona Beach area on October 21 I feel great about the area’s recovery from Hurricane Matthew,” said Bergenske.
“We ate at one of the local restaurants on the river and attended a Shriners function at one of the oceanfront hotels. All of our over one hundred guests had a great time. We are enthusiastically looking forward to bringing the Shriners annual Imperial Session to Daytona Beach in July.” More than 10,000 Shriners are expected to attend.
With more than 9.5 million annual visitors in 2015, tourism is a major industry in Volusia County. In 2015, tourism generated overall employment for 41,000 people with a payroll exceeding $500 million. Tourists paid more than 40 percent of the total sales tax collected in Volusia County last year.
“Hurricane Matthew is gone, and tourism is on.” Said Baker.
