Florida’s Emerald Coast, which is setting visitor attendance records, has traditionally been a drive-in market. But that could change as the north Florida area looks to open an expanded airport.
“We already have direct flights from Dallas and Houston with Delta. We also have direct flights from Atlanta. And Southwest has told us they would love to come here,” said Darrell C. Jones, ceo of the Emerald Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The expansion when it opens in November will be more than five times the present size of the Okaloosa County Regional Airport.
Okaloosa County, known as the Emerald Coast and located on Florida’s Gulf Coast, set a tourist revenue record in January and February.
The area’s drive-in market accounts for the vast majority of its business, but Mr Jones sees more air travelers and international traffic in the future.
A former AAA travel agent, Mr Jones said the area has come a long ways since he started here 14 years ago when there was virtually no travel agent or tour operator business.
He recalled to TravelMole:
“Nobody paid commissions to travel agents. Nobody wanted to work with them. Most of the business here was during summer vacations, for three or four months, then everything closed down.”
The area has since been re-positioned as a year-round destination, he said. Bargain season is the winter, when prices are often only half of what they are in the summer.
“We have a safe, family destination. We’re one of the few places where there are lifeguards everywhere all along the beach,” he said.
The area has 24 miles of white beaches and clear green Atlantic Ocean. Readers of Southern Living magazine have rated it the “Best Beach in the South” for the past eight years.
Report by David Wilkening
