- April 17, 2024
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Visitors to Flagler County are coming mostly from other parts of Florida and appreciate vast local dining options and the funky boutiques and independent shops of Flagler Beach, a survey found.
Evelyn Fine, a consultant with the Mid-Florida Marketing and Research, presented the results of the survey about who visits Flagler County and why, as well as visitors’ opinions of their trips, at a Wednesday meeting of the Tourist Development Council.
The survey is meant to give tourism officials insight into the local market to strengthen its tourism industry.
The top activity that drew visitors to Flagler in 2011 and 2012 was walking to beach. Just over 90% of visitors from out-of-state said they spent time on the beach during their trip. The next highest were visiting St. Augustine (52%) and visiting friends and family in the area (34%).
Fine said one of the problems Volusia County and Daytona Beach has with attracting visitors is that it’s perceived to be lacking on restaurant and shopping options.
“Flagler County is known as a restaurant destination,” Fine said. “You’ve done an excellent job in making sure people know you have the kinds of local foods people want.”
The telephone survey sampled 1,020 guests of Flagler County accommodations after they had returned home, randomly selected from a sample of hotels, motels, condo and home rentals and bed and breakfast properties.
Most people spent $106 per day in Flagler County, not counting hotel or campground accommodations, Fine said.
Visitors from 2011 to 2012 said their top two reasons for visiting Flagler were that it is close to home and because of its weather. The tourism industry is seeing a rise in car trips and weekend getaways, Fine said. For 73% of out-of-state visitors, Flagler County being within a day’s travel of their homes was “important” to their decision to visit, and 100% of respondents from Florida said the same.
While most visitors use the Internet — including sites like Facebook and TripAdvisor — to plan their trips, Fine said she and her colleagues are seeing a decline in the number of people who book their accommodations online. People like to speak with representatives at hotels on the phone, she said, so it is important Flagler County should be sure there is a relational dimension to making reservations.
“We’ve kind of gotten lazy in the hotel industry,” Fine said. “Many people who come want to have a conversation about the hotel and they want to have a conversation about rates to make sure they’re getting the best deal before they book.”
Another trend Fine said she is observing in the tourism industry is traveling in large, informal groups of friends and family. She suggested that Flagler capitalize on this trend by offering casual deals for large groups, such as offering a discount if three couples want to play golf together.
Fine said most people take reviews on social media seriously, and 57% of out-of-state visitors said Flagler County was highly recommended by friends before they came. Of those, 98% said they would recommend Flagler to others. Those who said they would not said the county was too expensive and the beach was “very disappointing.”
Council members were pleased with the results of the survey, and plan to use it to inform future marketing campaigns. Of Floridian visitors to Flagler County, 51% said they saw no advertisements for the county before coming. Changing that could yield more visitors. Another potential action discussed at the meeting was directing their attention to Canadian visitors by placing ads in magazines north of the border.
“The image that is out there is that this is the place to go,” Fine said. “The vision of Flagler is what people want.”
