CRANIS: highest tax collection during the fiscal year in history at $25.54 million
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Well, we made it through 2023. This will be our last newsletter until January 12. There is a lot to be grateful for this year and a lot to look forward to in 2024. I would like to personally thank the team at the Space Coast Office of Tourism.
They have been steadfast and diligent in their day-in and day-out efforts to grow tourism in the county.
While we searched for a new Marketing Director (welcome again to Laura Beebe), the marketing team kept things going including having the highest budget and most marketing efforts in a year, and in the process rebuilt our website and our launch app, Space Coast Launches (which you should download if you haven’t already).
We also had more familiarization tours for travel agents and media/influencers which allowed us to tell our story to their customers and readers/viewers/followers.
The Operations team, under our Deputy Director John Giantonio, kept plenty busy this year making sure our main office and Visitor Information Center were fully operational (congrats again to Elsie Radle who runs our VIC for the Rose Award), as well as our finance and sports areas continuing their hard work making sure our bills got paid and more sports events would come to our destination.
Our research team under Deborah Webster had many great projects including the latest visitor study which will be featured in our upcoming issue of the Tourism Journal, along with many other great stories.
Also, kudos to our support staff, as none of our efforts would be possible without their everyday focus including managing six committees and managing the awards of more than $6 million in grant funding for cultural, sports, and capital projects.
And the destination as a whole has done extremely well with more launches than ever before, looking to hit the 70 mark by year-end. And in spite of some headwinds, we had the highest tax collection during the fiscal year in history at $25.54 million. The Kennedy Space Center and the Brevard Zoo both had banner years.
Thanks to the team from Facilities, Parks, and all the vendors/suppliers that helped with Lori Wilson Park which had its refurbishment finished this year with new boardwalks, crossovers, bathrooms and more. And thanks to the Natural Resources Dept. that worked on all the beach refurbishment projects we had as we recovered from prior year storms.
More restaurants opened this year and more tourism jobs were created. And to county leadership (my bosses), all our partners and everyone who works in the tourism industry – thank you for all you do and Happy Holidays.
So, 2023 was a pretty successful year from a tourism perspective and we are all looking forward to another great year as we head into 2024.
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– Peter Cranis, Space Coast Office of Tourism Executive Director
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