dec2015

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A Specialty Contractor
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www.SouthFloridaHomeImprovements.Com
BROWARD
COUNTY
COMMISSIONER
Stacy Ritter
Although we’re still compiling the
final numbers for the year, our
figures so far show that 2015 has
been an unprecedented success
in tourism for Broward County. As
of August, there were 70 consecutive
months of hotel occupancy growth. The Greater Fort Lauderdale
Convention and Visitors’ Bureau believes that by the end
of this month, Broward County will have had 15 million people
coming to visit, pumping $12 billion dollars into our economy.
You can see our county changing and improving all the time.
There are new hotel developments including the Margaritaville
Beach Resort in Hollywood and the Conrad on Fort Lauderdale
Beach. Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport is
bustling with our new runway open and all our terminals being
renovated. Airlines are adding new routes all the time, including
JetBlue to Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Mexico
City; Southwest to Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport and Minneapolis. Port Everglades passenger totals are
up over nine percent for the first half of the year with capital
improvements in the master plan hoping for a goal of 5.6
million passenger moves by 2033. Royal Caribbean’s newest
ship, Harmony of the Seas, will be making Broward County its
home port soon. We are also hopeful that travel to Cuba from
Broward County, whether by ship or plane, will also translate
into travelers spending a few extra nights at hotels in Greater
Fort Lauderdale.
Broward County is a great place for sports. You already know
that we are the home of the NHL’s Florida Panthers, but we
have also hosted nearly 300 sporting events in the past year
that brought over 200,000 attendees spending over 400,000
room nights. Events for 2015 included the Swatch Beach
Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals (with the finals broadcast
on NBC,) the International Crossbow Championships, the
Women’s Golden Gloves Boxing and Hall of Fame Induction,
the JCC Maccabi Games, and the NHL Draft. Sports in Broward
is great for tourism.
Broward County is also becoming a great place for film and
music. Graceland on USA and Gator Boys on Animal Planet
are both filmed here. Lauderdale Live and Rock the Ocean Tortuga
Music Festival have been very successful concert series.
Next on our agenda is expanding our popular convention center
and adding a hotel to the complex. In 2015, we welcomed
over 400 meeting and convention groups with 60 percent of
those being repeat visitors. Everyone loves Broward County
and so many people want to return to enjoy our great weather,
awesome beaches, and abundant activities. P
10
DECEMBER 2015