Tourist boards approve more money to promote Daytona International Airport

The Daytona Beach Tourism Board will increase funds set aside to support Daytona International Airport by more than 160% in a new version of the 2024-2025 budget, which will be presented to the Volusia County Council for approval on Sept. 17.

The Halifax Area Advertising Authority board unanimously approved the revised budget during a special meeting Wednesday, increasing the planned allocation for airlift support in the advertising authority’s proposed $15.1 million budget from $150,000 to $400,000.

The revised budget was prepared after the County Council voted at its Aug. 20 meeting to delay approval of budgets for the coming fiscal year, submitted by all three of the county’s tourism advertising agencies, until plans provided more money to promote business at the county-run airport.

In separate meetings, the Southeast Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority and the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority also increased proposed funding to support the airport.

In West Volusia, the budget increased from $7,500 to $20,000, bringing the total budget to nearly $2 million.

In Southeast Volusia, the airport support budget item doubled from $50,000 to $100,000, for a total budget of $3.1 million.

The budgets include expenditures for the 2024-2025 budget year, which begins on October 1.

Councillor David Santiago led the fight for more airport funding

The county imposes a 6% tourism tax on hotels and lodges, half of which goes to the county’s three tourism advertising agencies to promote their respective areas – the Daytona Beach/Halifax area, Southeast Volusia and West Volusia – as tourist and special events destinations.

The other half will go toward funding the county-run Ocean Center convention center in Daytona Beach.

Councilman David Santiago led the campaign for the increases during the August 20 council meeting, stating that the HAAA board’s initial budget line item for airlift support of $150,000 is “too low.”

“We are making significant investments, as a Council, and I want to make sure that our partners are doing the same,” Santiago said. At the same time, he and other Council members declined to offer a specific dollar amount that would be acceptable.

In August, Utah-based low-cost carrier Breeze Airways announced plans to offer year-round nonstop service from Daytona Beach International Airport to four new destinations. The news was hailed as the largest airline service announcement in the history of the Volusia County airport.

In July, Avelo Airlines, another popular budget carrier, celebrated its one-year anniversary of flying from Daytona Beach International to New Haven, Connecticut.

Avelo used more than $226,000 in its first three months of operation here from a Volusia County tax fund set aside to guarantee a minimum amount of revenue for the airline. The fund, which has a maximum limit of $1 million, was used by the county-run airport as an incentive to persuade Avelo to offer service to Daytona Beach.

The Minimum Income Guarantee Fund offering expires after two years. The money comes from the county’s Economic Development Fund and is used to promote business activity in the county.

Despite unanimous approval, HAAA board resists

In response to the council’s guidance regarding tourism advertising authorities, the board of HAAA, which oversees and funds the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, arrived at the $400,000 amount based on input from the County Council and airport staff, said Lori Campbell Baker, executive director of the Daytona Beach Area CVB.

“We ran some advertising numbers prior to the August County Council meeting and found that the CVB has spent just under $350,000 since June 2023 in the designated market areas served by Breeze Airways’ new flights – NY, Raleigh-Durham, Providence, Philadelphia and Hartford-New Haven – across digital and social media,” Baker said.

“With that in mind, we felt $400,000 would be an appropriate amount for the Airlift Support post.”

While the HAAA board unanimously approved the revised budget, there was resistance to the last-minute changes at the end of a budget process that began in April and included input from county staff, airport officials and other tourism industry partners.

“I feel like we’re being held hostage,” said HAAA board member Samir Naran, chief operating officer at Premier Resorts & Management in Ormond Beach. “I don’t have anything against it, but I don’t like the way it’s been handled.”

Baker said it was the first time she could remember that the approval of the budgets of the three advertising agencies had been blocked. “This is historic,” she said. “It’s never happened before.”

Baker also praised the board’s excellent working relationship with airport staff, a relationship she said ensures that all opportunities that arise are maximized.

“We have always supported the airport,” she said. “The more flights we get from key markets, the easier it is to promote the destination.”

In West Volusia, the increase in airlift support was achieved by moving some of the funds originally allocated to digital advertising, said Georgia Turner, executive director of the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority.

In Southeast Volusia, the increase in airlift support also meant a shift of funds from other budget items set aside to promote the destination in the markets served by Avelo and Breeze, said Debbie Meihls, executive director of the Southeast Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority.

“We already had it in the budget to cover those markets,” she said. “We just had to move it to another line item. We want to support the airport.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Tourism Bureau Budgets Include More Money for Daytona Beach Airport