Whether you call it “Florida’s First Coast” or the place “Where Florida Begins,” Northeast Florida knows all about first impressions. Ponce de Leon’s first sighting of this lush coastline led him to call the land la florida, which means flowery. Today, anyone driving into the state catches a first glimpse of Northeast Florida—green, subtropical and a hint of salt on the breeze—after crossing the St. Mary’s River while no doubt shedding winter gear at the same time.
And from the air, you might be able to pick out the area’s major attributes—beaches, cities, golf courses, resorts and lots of wide open spaces. No matter how you arrive, though, first impressions invariably lead to a second look in Northeast Florida.
Jacksonville
In 1919, Jacksonville’s Union Station—serving industrialist Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway—was called the “gateway to the Sunshine State.” Today it’s the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, a fitting transition for a city poised to place meetings at the center of its tourism universe.
Not that meetings haven’t always been important; in addition to the Prime Osborn, Jacksonville is home to the enormous Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, with 110,000 square feet of meeting space and nearly a thousand rooms, along with a host of other meetings-centric properties that include the Omni Jacksonville, the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk and the Crowne Plaza Jacksonville Riverfront.
But in the last year, the city has tapped into a growing segment of its group business—medical tourism, including medical meetings and conventions—while organizing its promotional and marketing effort under one umbrella brand, “America’s Health Center,” which at press time was anchored by 11 partner institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute.
“It hasn’t been in the pipeline for that long, but we’ve really made this initiative come to fruition,” says Lyndsay Rossman, a spokesperson for Visit Jacksonville (formerly Jacksonville & the Beaches CVB). “We’ve branded ourselves as ‘America’s Health Center,’ and we feel it’s a brand that sticks because of the number of highly specialized medical facilities here and the number of medical businesses that are headquartered in Jacksonville.”
Rossman says since launching the initiative, along with its accompanying website, www.visitjacksonville.com/medical, the city has seen a surge in interest, not only from major medical corporations interested in relocating to Jacksonville, but from meeting planners who have clients in the health industries.
“We’ve had past success in bringing these groups here, but since this announcement, we’ve had more groups start looking at Jacksonville for their medical meetings,” Rossman notes. “We’ve also seen increased transient business for local medical organizations.”
While groups and other travelers discover the medical benefits of visiting Jacksonville, others have long known about the city’s rejuvenating landscape of parks and preserves—111,000 acres in all, including the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve—that make Jacksonville’s the largest urban park system in the country. A few hours on an eco-history tour through Little Talbot Island State Park and nearby Fort George Island or a day relaxing on the beach may be the best medicine of all for work-weary meeting attendees.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine may have just celebrated its 443rd birthday, but it’s hardly outdated. The cobblestone streets of the historic district hum with perpetual activity as horse-drawn carriages clip-clop by, visitors duck into museums, cafes and vintage shops, and craftspeople dressed in period costumes demonstrate how things were done 400 years ago.
But there’s a flip side to St. Augustine’s historical permanence—its thoroughly updated resort amenities.
“A lot of people have that ‘Oldest City’ idea, but I don’t think they connect the Ponte Vedra part of it,” notes Jay Humphreys, a spokesperson for the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches VCB, referring to the stretch of sand north of the city that features towering dunes, natural foliage and lavish resorts like the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, which will host Florida Encounter—the state’s meeting planner trade show—in November.
“It’s a good way to introduce people who aren’t familiar with the area to the meeting and convention facilities that we have,” Humphreys says, “as well as to re-educate folks who may not think of us as a meetings and conventions site.”
Something else that will help shed light on St. Augustine’s many attributes—a new meeting planner’s guide, slated to debut in January, which will feature, among other things, the VCB’s Tapestries program, an array of more than 35 special group experiences, including custom-designed tours emphasizing history, art, culture and heritage. Underground St. Augustine, for example, takes participants to actual digs where the city’s history continues to be uncovered.
“Tapestries really has a lot of unique experiences you can’t have anywhere else but in St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra, and it’s proven to be quite popular with meeting planners,” Humphreys says.
In addition, the new guide will highlight the city’s variety of meeting venues, from historic Old City hotels and museums to beachfront resorts and properties on the green, including World Golf Village, home to the Renaissance Resort and the St. Johns County Convention Center; as well as the 15 properties that have gone green, including the Hampton Inn St. Augustine, the Hilton St. Augustine Bayfront, the new Castillo Real Resort Hotel and the aforementioned Renaissance Resort.
“I think it indicates our devotion to the environment, which has always been a major draw,” Humphreys says. “We have an ordinance that prohibits building anything taller than 35 feet, so no matter where you go on the beach, you have a view of the ocean.
“We’ve been in tourism here for so long, going back to the 1820s,” he adds, “so we have a long-range sense of what works and what doesn’t.”
Amelia Island
Also dedicated to environmental preservation is 13-mile-long Amelia Island, set northeast of Jacksonville on the Atlantic Ocean and offering a secluded atmosphere that is part nature retreat and part Victorian village, with nearly 10 percent of the island taken up by park preserves, including the 1,086-acre Fort Clinch State Park, a former Civil War outpost now featuring coastal trails, unspoiled beaches and a 1,500-foot fishing pier.
“For residents and many repeat visitors, protecting the island’s natural environment is far more than a bumper sticker sentiment,” says Gil Langley, managing director of the Amelia Island Tourist Development Council. “In addition to the personal pride involved, some of our most popular attractions, including kayaking, biking, hiking, fishing and the beach, hinge on our magnificent natural setting.”
Not that civilization is all that far away. The island’s largest property, Amelia Island Plantation, which recently went green, has nearly 50,000 square feet of function space accommodating up to 1,000 attendees. Nearby, The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island just started construction on a $22.1 million ballroom that will add 12,000 square feet of meeting space, bringing the property’s total to 35,000 square feet; the addition is slated for completion by fall 2009.
Meanwhile, a bygone civilization beckons from the island’s northern end in Fernandina Beach, home to a 55-block National Register historic district of ornate Victorian homes and inns, many offering group facilities. The Amelia Island Williams House, for example, recently added a 450-square-foot conference room capable of hosting up to 40 people.
And now there’s another way to experience Amelia Island’s historic side—on a new ferry trip offered by Cumberland Sound Ferry Service, connecting the island to St. Mary’s, Ga., via roundtrip voyages that feature a narration of the region’s history, natural attributes and wildlife.
Palm Coast/Flagler County
South of St. Augustine and offering a low-gear, Old South setting of tranquil beachside communities, salt marshes teeming with birds and golf courses teeming with birdies, Flagler County and its largest city, Palm Coast, are where groups that want to completely unplug want to be.
Helping them do that is the region’s largest meetings property, Ginn Hammock Beach Resort, home to two golf courses, a nine-hole putting course, a multilevel water and swim pavilion, a 22,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, multiple restaurants and a cigar bar. The resort boasts more than 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, including two ballrooms as well as venues overlooking the ocean and the 18th hole of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Design Ocean Course.
Other getaway locations in Flagler County include the new Palm Coast Resort, with access to Hammock Beach golf facilities, and the Hilton Garden Inn Palm Coast Town Center, slated to open this February with 121 guest rooms and a complimentary 24-hour business center.
For More Info
Amelia Island TDC 904.277.0717 www.ameliaisland.org
Flagler County TDC (Palm Coast) 386.313.4013 www.visitflagler.org
St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches
VCB 904.829.1711 www.getaway4florida.com
Visit Jacksonville 904.798.9111 www.visitjacksonville.com
