Tourism board eyes Daytona s rebound with optimism, caution Jim Abbott, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
A Main Street merchant talks Bike Week 2021 in Daytona Beach
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DAYTONA BEACH There were moments of both optimism and cautiousness on Wednesday, as members of the Halifax Area Advertising Authority board of directors assessed the emergence of the World’s Most Famous Beach from the catastrophic tourism downturn tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
On the plus side, tourism bed-collections for the Halifax area that includes Volusia’s beachside destinations are trending higher than anyone dared imagine during the pandemic’s height a year ago.
DAYTONA BEACH When thousands of Jeep vehicles and the people who love them roll into Volusia County for the annual Jeep Beach celebration this week, it marks another welcome sign of optimism for the area’s tourism industry, hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.
Hoteliers anticipate sold-out rooms over much of the event, which shifts into high gear on Monday and runs through Sunday, April 25. Likewise, restaurant managers and other tourist-related businesses also are expecting the Jeep fans to boost sales.
The beachside Hard Rock Hotel, the event’s headquarters hotel, will be Ground Zero for many of the week’s activities. The list includes “Jeeps At the Rock,” two days of beach activities on Wednesday and Thursday that feature a surf school, games, vendors, prize raffles, drink specials and a pool party.
A year after Volusia County’s tourism industry took its most devastating hit from the coronavirus pandemic, visitors are flocking again to the World’s Most Famous Beach.
Motivated by the availability of vaccines and stimulus money, as well as raging cases of cabin fever, they have converged in recent weeks on hotel lobbies and beaches, a welcome scene reminiscent of bygone “normal” times.
Yet the pandemic still lingers with case numbers rising in recent weeks and new unpredictable variants in the mix. And its impact is expected to have long-lasting effects on the hotel industry here and nationwide, resulting in new ways to do business that could last even after COVID’s threat has passed.
DAYTONA BEACH On the sidewalks, in the hotels, restaurants and grocery stores, the cheerleaders are seemingly everywhere this week at the World’s Most Famous Beach.
Thousands of students on cheerleading teams and dance units representing roughly 140 colleges and universities nationwide are in Daytona Beach to compete in the College Cheer and Dance National Championship sponsored by the National Cheerleaders Association and the National Dance Alliance.
The five-day event runs through Sunday at the Daytona Beach Bandshell and the Ocean Center.
It’s a milestone edition of the long-running competition, which is marking both the 40th anniversary of the event itself and its 25th year in Daytona Beach.