South Walton TDC Mid Year Report
The Fiscal Year 2015 Mid-year report from the Walton County TDC is in and rental revenue is up.
The report indicates the short term accommodation rental revenue in South Walton is up 30% for January this year over last. The shoulder season is also up, 100% versus 50% in peak season over the last 10 years.
The report talks about the visitors. For every 85 visitors to Florida, they generate about one job in our workforce. Walton County is 41st in county population, yet in the top 10 in visitor spending. There are 3 million or more visitors annually.
What do these visitors to our south end bring to our economy. The TDC says they spent $183 million on accommodations in June and July, making South Walton the number one coastal economy for visitor tourism. This means $1 billion in direct economic impact annually to Walton County. For every $1 of tourism advertising Visit Florida generates $390 in tourism spending and $23 in new sales taxes.
And the TDC has been doing their job; just ask their peers. They have won 24 marketing and public relations industry awards. They also have 19 South Walton and 16 Beaches accolades such as Santa Rosa Beach, “America's Favorite Towns” by Travel & Leisure. The Visit South Walton TDC has 156,721 Facebook followers, 609,499 website visitors from October to March and provided over $32 million in advertising value equivalency in 2014.
The TDC also provided 30 special event marketing grants totaling $474,000, creating an estimated $36 million in economic impact. They also took the beach on the road to emerging markets in New York, Dallas, Washington D.C., Chicago, Nashville, Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale.
The TDC is not just marketing and events, but they help take care of the beaches. The TDC Beach operations maintain 70 beach and bay accesses every day of the year. They picked up 800 tons of trash. And with South Walton Turtle Watch, they marked 47 sea turtle nests and saw 43 of those nests hatch. Don’t forget we have started sea turtle nesting season.
The Fiscal Year 2015 Mid-year report from the Walton County TDC is in and rental revenue is up.
The report indicates the short term accommodation rental revenue in South Walton is up 30% for January this year over last. The shoulder season is also up, 100% versus 50% in peak season over the last 10 years.
The report talks about the visitors. For every 85 visitors to Florida, they generate about one job in our workforce. Walton County is 41st in county population, yet in the top 10 in visitor spending. There are 3 million or more visitors annually.
What do these visitors to our south end bring to our economy. The TDC says they spent $183 million on accommodations in June and July, making South Walton the number one coastal economy for visitor tourism. This means $1 billion in direct economic impact annually to Walton County. For every $1 of tourism advertising Visit Florida generates $390 in tourism spending and $23 in new sales taxes.
And the TDC has been doing their job; just ask their peers. They have won 24 marketing and public relations industry awards. They also have 19 South Walton and 16 Beaches accolades such as Santa Rosa Beach, “America's Favorite Towns” by Travel & Leisure. The Visit South Walton TDC has 156,721 Facebook followers, 609,499 website visitors from October to March and provided over $32 million in advertising value equivalency in 2014.
The TDC also provided 30 special event marketing grants totaling $474,000, creating an estimated $36 million in economic impact. They also took the beach on the road to emerging markets in New York, Dallas, Washington D.C., Chicago, Nashville, Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas and Fort Lauderdale.
The TDC is not just marketing and events, but they help take care of the beaches. The TDC Beach operations maintain 70 beach and bay accesses every day of the year. They picked up 800 tons of trash. And with South Walton Turtle Watch, they marked 47 sea turtle nests and saw 43 of those nests hatch. Don’t forget we have started sea turtle nesting season.
