In 2013, one of Florida’ s most beloved tourist attractions was awarded an honorary doctorate. Jacksonville University bestowed a degree in health sciences and longevity on Nellie, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin celebrating her 60th birthday as the star of Marineland Dolphin Adventure, the historic tourist attraction and marine science research center. Nellie, who was born at Marineland in 1953 and died in 2014, was honored for how her extraordinarily long life provided valuable information to marine biologists and animal care experts.
Marineland, which bills itself as the world’ s first oceanarium, opened in 1938, straddling the Flagler-St. Johns county line at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The attraction, which drew 500,000 visitors annually in the 1950s, faced financial challenges over the ensuing decades: competition from more modern tourist attractions, hurricane damage and other factors. Marineland filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, but in November 2025 it secured a buyer who pledged to continue the attraction as an oceanarium.
“ You don’ t just build it and people come,” said Susan Phillips, President and CEO of the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches Visitors and Convention Bureau. Addressing Florida tourism and not Marineland specifically, Phillips noted tourist destinations“ have to continually nourish themselves. You have to redefine your product and amplify your message, because there’ s a lot of competition out there and a lot of folks who would love to have our visitors come to them instead of us.”
Recognizing the prominent role of tourism in Florida’ s economy, the State Legislature in 1977 created the Tourist Development Tax( TDT). The legislation allows counties to implement the tax, subject to local voter approval, and subject to various limits on the tax rate and how its revenues can be used.
Susan Phillips
New Smyrna Beach is a Florida city south of Daytona Beach known for its beaches, including nearby Cape Canaveral
Left: Visitors can interact and even swim with dolphins at Marineland Dolphin Adventure. Photo provided by Marineland Dolphin Adventure
DECEMBER 2025 / JANUARY 2026 | 7 |