Director of the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau,“ There are actually two different, oddly named bed taxes in Volusia County: A 3 % Tourist Development Tax is levied county-wide and goes
Lori Campbell Baker directly to the Ocean Center( the county-owned convention facility) to pay down the bonds, so we residents don’ t have to. A 3 % Convention Development Tax is levied in three separate taxing districts( Halifax, Southeast Volusia and West Volusia) and can only be used for tourism marketing by the CVBs.
“ Bed taxes are incurred only when someone stays overnight in a lodging establishment. Day-trippers don’ t pay into the taxes, and our budget dollars do not come from the citizens of Volusia County.”
In Flagler County, the Tourist Development Tax rate is 5 %. According to Amy Lukasik, Executive Director of the Flagler County Tourism Development Office, allowable uses for those revenues include marketing / promotions and operations( 60 %), beach renourishment( 20 %) and capital projects involving the Flagler Beach Pier, Princess Place Preserve and other sites( 20 %).
In St. Johns County, the TDT rate is 5 %. Along with tourism promotion, allowable uses include“ beach renourishment, some of the parks that visitors would use, boat ramps, shuttle services for major events like Nights
Amy Lukasik of Lights( St. Augustine’ s annual Christmas season celebration)” and more, Phillips said.
However, there are grays areas, Phillips added: The city of St. Augustine recently approached St. Johns County“ for Nights of Lights funding for shuttles, public safety and restrooms, and our county attorney said you can’ t use those funds for public restrooms or public safety. Even the city attorney differed in her opinion on that, but the county prevailed.” Tourism dollars also spawn benefits for locals.“ People get hung up on‘ It’ s all just for the visitors,’” Phillips said.“ Well, visitors are paying for wonderful things that we enjoy here in St Johns County, that add to our quality of life.”
She noted the restaurant-dining scene in St. Augustine, a city with a population of about 15,000 people: The city’ s population alone, without tourists, would not be enough to support“ the restaurants of the quality we have here.”
“ If you look at it from an ROI( return on investment) perspective, here’ s how important investing in( tourism) marketing is,” said Flagler County’ s Lukasik.“ With an $ 800,000 marketing investment, we attract approximately 950,000 visitors, generating $ 4.4 million in TDT revenue. These numbers show that tourism marketing is not just an expense – it’ s one of the highest-performing investments we can make for economic impact into our community.”
“ Here in Southeast Volusia, we’ ve seen what
responsible tourism investment can do,” said Debbie Meihls, President & CEO of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority. Tourism tax revenue helps to“ preserve our unique sense of place. It has elevated New Smyrna Beach into one of Florida’ s most beloved coastal destinations – a community that’ s authentic, welcoming and sustainable.”
Rick de Yampert is a freelance writer living in Palm Coast, Florida. Previously he was a writer for 30 years at daily newspapers in Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.
By the Numbers( statistics from 2024-2025)
• Number of visitors( staying overnight): St. Johns County – 6.5 million. Volusia County – 4.5 million. Flagler County – 948,600.
• Tourist Development Tax collected: St. Johns County – $ 23.1 million. Volusia County( Convention Development Tax) – $ 12.2 million. Flagler County – $ 4.43 million.
• Vistor spending: St. Johns County – $ 2.5 billion). Volusia County – $ 3.3 billion. Flagler County – $ 617.7 million.
• Total visitor economic impact: St. Johns County – $ 3.8 billion. Volusia County – $ 5.5 billion. Flagler County – $ 891 million.
DECEMBER 2025 / JANUARY 2026 | 9 |