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Groups avoiding storm season(South Florida Sun-Sentinel (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 22--Hurricane Wilma didn't destroy Florida's tourism image. But it gave it a blemish. A year after the hurricane barreled through South Florida, knocking out power to homes and businesses for weeks, travel officials say the region is battling to attract conventions and large business gatherings during the late summer and fall months. Some hope a quiet 2006 hurricane season will make up for two years of multiple hurricanes smacking the state. "It has had a serious impact on the group market in September and October," said Bill C. Briscoe, chief operating officer of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Helms-Briscoe, which helps organizations pick hotels for business gatherings. With its beaches, theme parks and cornucopia of hotels, Florida remains hugely popular for vacationers. The 85.6 million people who visited in 2005 made the state second only to much larger California as a vacation haven. But even families visiting the state worry bad weather will dampen their plans. "People call, and they want you to guarantee that there won't be a hurricane," said Jodi Webster, a Cincinnati travel agent whose late-summer business to Florida includes bargain hunters, a few honeymooners and theme-park devotees. "Mostly, it's the families that are willing to take the challenge." Visitors to Florida spent an estimated $57 billion in the state last year, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs and easing the tax burden on residents. Visit Florida, which promotes tourism to the state, spends about $60 million a year to keep Florida top of mind. After hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne struck in 2004, the industry sought $30 million in emergency marketing funds, but settled for $4.75 million. While industry experts were concerned about the leisure market, it has been fairly resilient. Travel agents said that vacationers tend to forget about hurricanes once the media coverage of storms is replaced by other stories. Resort operators say guests are booking closer than ever to travel dates. That gives visitors a chance to evaluate the trends in a particular season, and to inquire about whether a storm that hit in one part of Florida affects where they plan to visit. "We believe travelers are cognizant of the weather and hurricane situations as they take time to develop, and they can adjust their travel accordingly," said Ray Snisky, president of Funjet Vacations, a large package tour operator. Of more concern, is the climate for business meetings. An afterthought two decades ago, Florida conventions boomed with the growth of Orlando into the country's second-largest meeting destination. Other areas jumped into the convention game, including Broward County in 1993 and Palm Beach County in 2004. Conventions are considered most valuable not during the winter -- when hotels are full -- but in spring and fall when occupancies diminish. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons have raised nagging doubts about the long-term viability of that strategy. "Groups are leery of booking Florida in September and October," said Briscoe, whose company reserved about 2.7 million room nights with hotels last year. "If they do book Florida hotels, they want to find out what their outs are with regard to attrition and cancellation." Attrition occurs when delegates opt out of a meeting they have signed up for. In severe cases, meeting planners have to pay penalties to hotels to make up the business. Canceling a meeting can bring bigger losses. To address those fears, Broward County last year offered to cover those costs for any meeting that reserved 600 or more rooms on its peak night. The visitors bureau also threw in free rent on the convention center in August, September and October. If meeting planners are hesitant to come to Florida, they aren't moving wholesale to other warm-weather resort areas. In San Diego, while group business has been strong this month, "I don't feel we can attribute that to last year's hurricanes on the East Coast," said Kevin Kamenzind, vice president of sales and services for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau. Planners are more aware that Florida meetings might be disrupted, Kamenzind said, but with the exception of the first few weeks after Hurricane Katrina they haven't called to relocate meetings out of hurricane alley. Kaminzind said the media's reprise of Katrina footage on the anniversary of its landfall near New Orleans probably hurt Florida tourism in September and October. "Right now, there's still somewhat of an open wound, and I do hear about it," he said. During the peak 2005 hurricane months of August, September and October, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau arranged 83 business meetings at area hotels and at the Broward County Convention Center, one fewer than in the same months of 2004. The bureau is still compiling numbers for 2006. Sean Hennessey, founder of Lodging Investment Advisers, in New York, said damage to the meetings trade in Florida has been limited by a lack of options. "Few resorts with substantial meeting facilities have been built over the last five or six years," he said. Hotels, such as the Boca Raton Resort & Club and the Westin Diplomat, are also beyond the budget of many groups during the winter months, but can be a very appealing draw to delegates at lower summer rates, Hennessey said. As last week's earthquake in Hawaii shows, few places are exempt from natural disasters. Florida will benefit from the current quiet season, Hennessey predicted. "The more time you have between events," he said, "the easier it is for concerns to dissipate." Tom Stieghorst can be reached at [email protected] or 305-810-5008 Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |