From the high-intensity action of Daytona’s International Speedway to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on the Space Coast, Daytona Beach and its environs—including the pristine beaches of Cocoa Beach and Melbourne—brim with action, history, 72 miles of beaches and natural phenomenon visitors have to see to believe.
What’s New in Daytona?
What most people think of when they think of Daytona Beach is cars racing around a track. And as home to NASCAR and the Daytona 500, that’s not an entirely inaccurate image and is indeed a big part of the scene. But Daytona Beach is so much more.
Thanks in large part to Daytona’s International Speedway, much has been built up around it—from the hotels to the convention center, restaurants and a new Tanger Outlet— all ideal for meeting groups that want to do it all and see it all. New in the Daytona Beach area is nearly $2 billion in investments, from sparkling new hotels and renovations to upscale retail, dining and entertainment attractions to keep your attendees engaged.
The largest project, “Daytona Rising,” is a wondrous $400 million reimagining of the Daytona International Speedway. It boasts redesigned entrances, dozens of video screens to capture on-track action, spacious social areas, or “neighborhoods,” and more than 100,000 new, wider and more comfortable grandstand seats. Even more, this mega-complex includes more than 60 luxury suites with trackside views and a completely revamped hospitality experience for corporate guests.
To top that off, pun intended, in excess of 7,000 solar panels makes the Daytona International Speedway one of five of the largest professional sports venues with solar installations in the country.
This past January, the 40th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites was held at the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort/Ocean Walk Village, with the Expo held at Ocean Center Daytona Beach, a convention center with more than 200,000 square feet. The group conducted day trips to the Kennedy Space Center and held evening events at neighboring Ocean Walk Shoppes on the beach.
Having met in Daytona for 14 years, Greg Phelps, CMP, meeting planner for the Westerville, Ohio-based American Ceramic Society, sung its praises.
“Daytona Beach is a great home for us,” he said. “The staff at the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort and at the Ocean Center continues to exceed our expectations in regards to service, quality and value year after year.
“The local restaurants work hard to recognize the special needs of our attendees, such as custom menus in multiple languages that the good folks at Sloppy Joe’s create for our international guests,” he added. “And finally, the CVB supports our meeting with a wide range of services and personal attention. Daytona Beach is a place we look forward to returning to again and again.”
Linda McMahon, director of group sales, Daytona Beach Area CVB, said there’s so much for meeting groups to do, including trips to the Speedway, Daytona Beach and the new Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Relocated to Daytona Beach this year, the Hall of Fame encompasses the full spectrum of American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, powerboats and airplanes.
McMahon also boasts about the ever-growing culinary scene, showcasing new restaurants such as the Florida seafood–inspired Azure or the ultra cool 31 Supper Club in nearby Ormond Beach. And not to be left out of the craft beer craze, the Daytona Beach Ale Trail is a group of restaurants, breweries and even food trucks groups can visit via pub crawl.
Meeting planners are also looking forward to what’s in store in 2017.
“There are so many exciting things happening here, such as One Daytona, a retail, dining and entertainment complex across from Daytona International Speedway [with Bass Pro Shops and Cobb Theaters as anchors],” said Debbie Guilfoil, national account manager for Global Cynergies, a third-party planner, who was recently hosted by The Shores Resort and Spa for her visit to Daytona Beach. “I also took a hardhat tour of the new Westin Hotel [due to open in May 2017] and a tour of Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt Place. I can’t wait to bring association and corporate business to this new and exciting location.”
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For truly unique events, there’s the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art. Opened last February on the campus of the Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of Arts and Sciences, the museum is home to more than 2,700 Florida oil and watercolor paintings. Many areas of the museum, like the planetarium and Root Family Train Station, provide a stunning backdrop for special events.
For planners, it’s even easier for groups to get to Daytona Beach International Airport with new lift: Since last January, JetBlue Airways has offered flights out of New York’s JFK airport; nonstop service from Atlanta on Delta Air Lines; and service from Charlotte, N.C., on American Airlines—all with hundreds of connecting flights.
Florida’s Space Coast
South of Daytona, the Space Coast, which includes Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, Palm Bay and Titusville, features an array of venues, including The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as well as beautiful beaches and plenty of nature.
“Depending on what your group likes to do, we have so much to offer,” said Bonnie King, deputy director, Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism.
“The Brevard Veterans Memorial Center Museum just reopened on Veteran’s Day after a relocation and renovation that expanded its venue from 1,000 to 6,000 square feet,” King said.
The center, located on Merritt Island, collects, preserves and displays artifacts of the military history of the U.S., with special emphasis on Brevard County veterans. The collection holds thousands of unique and representative artifacts dating as far back as the Revolutionary War.
And while many groups in Florida make the pilgrimage to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to see the working NASA facilities and artifacts, King said there’s now another reason to go.
“Heroes and Legends just opened, celebrating NASA’s pioneering astronauts; it also features the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame,” she said.
The exhibit also encourages guests to experience the thrills of America’s earliest missions, through engaging storytelling and high-tech special effects. Visitors will be introduced to heroes of the American space program through a 360-degree visual presentation, and the new U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame allows visitors to interact “virtually” with nearly 100 astronaut heroes inducted to date.
For those more interested in nature, the Kennedy Center is surrounded by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary to more than 300 species of birds and 140 species of fish. Melbourne offers beaches, fishing, golf, snorkeling and many other outdoor activities, and Palm Bay is a hidden gem renowned for its numerous parks and nature trails. From Cocoa Village, Island Boat Lines offers guided tours along the Banana River where more than 4,000 species of plant, animal and fish are yours to see.
“One of the really great things about the Space Coast is there are wonderful hotels and the area is not crowded,” said Brenda J. Glass, director of sales of Site Search, Inc. “I had a group of judicial assistants at the 125-room Hilton Cocoa Beach and the hotel did a wonderful job. One day we went to the Space Center, where my attendees met astronauts and saw rockets that have been in space; another day they visited the charming downtown area of Cocoa Beach, where they enjoyed the shopping. My group loved the Space Coast precisely because it’s so different from any other area. We even have some attendees who just want to get away from the congestion and go to the beach.”
Thanks to ongoing development and modernization, the Central East Florida region is a dynamic destination, ideal as a world-class global destination for conferences and events where even the most seasoned attendees will find much to delight and entertain. Planners, too, can look forward to professional, experienced support from area venues and the CVB.
