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Promoting Paradise: Keeping Tourism Hot In The Palm Beaches · Inside West Palm Beach

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  Welcome to Inside West Palm
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  Beach. I'm Gerry Marcelo.
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  Over a hundred years ago, Palm Beach and
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  West Palm Beach together became the very
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  first resort
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  destination in the United States,
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  giving birth to a tourist industry that
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  has been an undeniable part of West
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  Palm's culture for decades.
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  But tourism doesn't
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  stay strong without help.
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  Today, we'll look at the organization
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  that makes sure Palm Beach County is top
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  of mind for vacation seekers
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  and explore modern challenges that face
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  our city as tourism changes and grows.
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  That's next on Inside West Palm Beach.
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  And joining us today is Milton Segara,
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  president and CEO of
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  Discover the Palm Beach.
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  Milton, welcome to the show.
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  Thank you so much. It's a
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  pleasure to be here. Thank you.
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  As we jump in, we're going to be talking
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  a lot about tourism. But
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  first, I want to talk about you.
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  How did you get involved in marketing and
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  tourism and what brought
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  you to the Palm Beaches?
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  Well, being here is one of the highest
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  honor of my career to start with.
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  You know, I've been blessed with a 30
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  year plus career in hospitality and
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  travel, as well as in the hotel, health
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  care and technology industries.
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  But, you know, tourism is part of our
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  family. I'm from Puerto Rico and my
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  family, my father, my grandfather, they
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  own a small hotel in the
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  southwest coast of Puerto Rico.
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  And we all grew there. And we will learn
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  to see the hospitality and the hotel
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  business as part of your life.
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  So I grew in this and it was so natural
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  to me. So I continue developing myself.
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  I worked with some hotel companies like
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  High at Hilton, The Sands Hotels and
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  Casinos. And it grew inside of me until I
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  learned that there was another part,
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  which is the destination marketing, which
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  is representing communities.
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  And I've been blessed to represent
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  several communities, Puerto Rico and some
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  others. But being here, it's, as I told
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  you, the beginning my highest honor.
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  And I'm so happy and proud to
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  be part of this community now.
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  It's really almost it becomes a part of
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  your DNA. It's a part of your
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  personality, that you're welcoming people
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  and attracting people to a community like
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  the one here in West Palm Beach.
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  Yeah. Well, as I said, you know, we have
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  this amazing blend of 39 communities,
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  obviously, West Palm
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  Beach being the focal point.
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  I mean, the thing is this. It's like when
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  you go to, let's say, if you want to go
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  to Spain, most likely
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  you're going to go to Madrid.
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  If you want to go to Argentina, most
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  likely you're going to go to Buenos
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  Aires. Well, if you come to Palm Beach
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  County, most likely you're
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  going to come to West Palm Beach.
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  That's it. It's part of the experience.
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  And the fact that you can represent not
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  only West Palm Beach, but as well the
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  other 39 communities in
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  the county, it's a privilege.
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  People, when they come here, they feel
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  the well-being, the prosperity that we
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  portrayed as a community. And that is
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  something that it's phenomenal to not
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  only to attract visitors, but as well to
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  enhance the quality of place and quality
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  of life that all of
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  us that will live here.
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  And one of the things that's so
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  attractive about Palm Beach County is not
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  only do we have a certain style or a
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  certain culture here, with all the
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  different communities, we have a complete
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  strata of different types of folks, different kinds of people.
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  Different types of folks, different
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  cultures. We have obviously Palm Beach
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  all the way to the agricultural
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  communities out West in Belglade.
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  There's so much going on here, so many
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  different types of people that can be
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  very attractive to
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  folks who are visiting.
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  And I think that's part of the DNA, as
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  you said at the beginning, and one of the
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  part of the secret sauce
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  that we have is the destination.
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  The fact of the matter is that if you go
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  back more than 125 years ago, when all of
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  this started, we started like a very nice
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  place to come and visit.
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  And from that we evolved to this
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  worldwide known travel brand, very solid
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  brand across the world.
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  And now we are this hub in which
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  everything that comes and happens here,
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  and West Palm Beach is a perfect example
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  of that. It is amazing.
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  It is flourishing and you can take
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  culture, lifestyle, social, health care,
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  finance, and unique tourism.
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  It's growing left and right, north and
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  south, and that is something that is very
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  unique, but it's part of that trajectory
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  and that track record of the destination.
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  Yeah, I like that term trajectory. I
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  mean, the entity, the discover of the
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  Palm Beaches in its very earliest form
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  sort of came together in the early 80s.
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  And it has grown along with the county
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  and with the cities that have populated
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  the county over the last 40 years.
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  Looking at where we are right now
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  compared to, say, five years ago or 10
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  years ago, our growth
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  has been exponential.
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  Do you feel that you've adjusted your
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  marketing, your approach to making this
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  community attractive to
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  visitors because of that growth?
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  That's a great question. And the answer
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  is yes. I mean, every year, especially to
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  remain competitive and to learn,
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  especially because of the introduction of
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  technology, AI, and all the tech
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  platforms that exist, you are.
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  And not only that, the behavior of our
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  consumers, the way you engage with them
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  really push you and force
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  you to look to different ways.
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  And the organization of 1983, which was
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  when we started being the destination
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  marketing organization for the Palm Beach
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  County, we have evolved tremendously, not
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  only in size, not only in budget, but as
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  well as the type of talent that we
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  attract and the way we
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  engage and the markets.
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  Now we're physically and actually
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  promoting and presenting the county as an
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  option for visitors.
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  Let's talk a little bit about something
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  that folks don't really realize. A lot of
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  folks just think, well, you know, we're
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  Florida, we're going to self-promote.
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  It just sort of happens. People know
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  we're the beach, we're the tropics, we're
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  going to come. That's not the case.
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  There is an active effort to promote this
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  community and this county to places far
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  and wide. What sort of staff do you have?
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  What kind of is it? What
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  is your organization like?
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  I'm going to answer that question, but I
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  have to go back to what you said about in
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  the past. Maybe we didn't
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  need to promote Florida.
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  And you know what? To a certain extent,
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  maybe 20, 30 years ago, that was the
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  case. But nowadays we compete.
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  Palm Beach County, we compete with Dubai,
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  we compete with the South of France, we
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  compete with other important
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  destinations here in the state.
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  So it's a different approach. And to do
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  that, we have a fully staffed
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  organization, 53,
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  talented. I'm so proud of them.
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  The reason why we are so successful is
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  that we have such a phenomenal team
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  across the board. So we have from
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  specialists in social media to people
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  selling the destination, bringing
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  meetings and conventions to the
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  convention center
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  here in West Palm Beach.
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  We have, as I said, from the marketing
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  side to the sales side to the community
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  engagement that we have. So not too many
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  people knows exactly what we are or who
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  we are and what we do.
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  And that is how we try to engage with our
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  local. So they understand that our only
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  reason to exist is to represent all of
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  them, all the county
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  residents and cities in the world.
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  Just to make sure that it's clear, you're
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  not necessarily a private organization.
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  You are charted to the county?
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  No, we are a non-for-profit private
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  organization with a contract with the
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  county for 43 years. And our main source
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  of revenue is the room tax that the
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  visitors, not the
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  residents, the visitors.
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  So our efforts are revenue neutral,
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  number one, and it's fully paid by
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  visitors that once they pay from their
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  personal disposable income, they pay
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  their room rate in the hotel or alternate
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  lodging they selected.
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  Six percent of that will come back in a
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  way back to the county. And we have a
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  portion of that and we reinvest that
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  money so more people can come and get to
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  know about the Palm Beaches.
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  So that's really important. I think a lot
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  of people would immediately assume, oh,
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  tax base, this is coming out of my
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  pocket. No, that's not the case.
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  Not a single dollar of what
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  we invest are from residents.
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  Now, the other thing that you mentioned
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  that really sort of piqued my interest,
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  you mentioned places like Dubai. Do we
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  actually reach out globally to try to
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  attract visitors to the area?
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  Well, the thing is, those are
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  destinations that are
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  competing for the same visitors.
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  OK, so but but for example, the markets
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  that we are actively seeking right now,
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  talking about international visitations
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  are UK, Canada, Brazil,
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  Mexico, Colombia, Germany.
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  Those are the top five or six markets
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  that constantly are sending visitors of
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  the total visitation that we have in
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  which last year we broke the record.
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  Ten point seven million visitors. Wow.
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  Close to 12 percent are international.
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  The rest, the other 88 percent, give or
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  take, are from domestic markets.
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  So which is extremely important for us.
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  There's no secret that this is a
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  tumultuous time worldwide
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  with a lot of stuff going on.
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  Has this impacted the amount of traffic
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  that we're seeing into the country from
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  other other countries? Absolutely. There
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  is there is an impact in our case.
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  We've been able to anticipate. And even
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  though we we we felt less than one
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  percent decrease in international
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  visitation, which is, I mean, not many
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  destinations in not only in Florida, but
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  in the nation are seeing that what you're
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  seeing is in some cases, double digit
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  decreases across the board.
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  And that in our case was less than one
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  percent of it all. But we've been able to
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  really pinpoint local national markets
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  like Houston and Dallas. And that
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  visitors that we have lost because of the
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  international situation, we've been able
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  to regain with locals, meaning national
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  markets like Houston and Dallas.
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  And that shifted that small portion that
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  was foreign or international, I should
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  say, and made it so that we're tapping
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  into more and more of a domestic market
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  to sort of backfill.
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  Absolutely. It's been that way. And at
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  the end, we ended up establishing a new
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  trend in which some of those secondary
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  markets that we have and Dallas and
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  Houston were two secondary markets.
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  Now we are pushing them to become primary
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  markets like New York. It is more
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  Philadelphia or Chicago or or some of
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  those areas in the Northeast that are
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  primarily our main source of visitors.
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  But now with this type of efforts, we are
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  diversifying the source of visitors. So
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  we know if if this one doesn't perform as
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  well, we have another one coming up and
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  we maintain the growth.
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  And we have seen in the last two or three
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  years how we've been growing the number
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  of visitors by pretty much close to a
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  million visitors per
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  year, year over year.
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  Do you guys use items like billboards or
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  print ads and in those markets to
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  attract? Do you use radio spots? And what
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  percentage are using social media?
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  Yeah, well, pretty much between 60 to 70
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  percent of our market, excuse me, our
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  advertising and marketing dollars are
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  digital digital digital.
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  And but yes, a traditional TV or
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  magazines or out of home like a
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  billboard, of course, in certain markets
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  that are really important.
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  But we're trying to drive most of our
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  investment through the digital lenses in
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  terms of potential markets to really
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  connect with the
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  audiences that we're looking at.
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  And we're making significant investment
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  and changes into the early adoption of
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  some technological platforms.
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  Not only that as well. Introduction and
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  early adoption of new technologies that
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  are available, not only AI, but how we
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  can really predict and forecast better.
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  So we can pinpoint and redirect all the
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  marketing efforts and investment that we
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  have into the markets that we know that
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  if we promote the destination there, we
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  will we should have a quick return on
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  investment by
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  visitation to the to the county.
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  Let's shift gears for a moment. West Palm
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  Beach is in the news these days, both
• 14:13:16
  West Palm and Palm Beach.
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  Obviously, a lot of talk, a lot of
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  chatter. Has this had any effect on your
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  perceived effect on people visiting the
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  area, people coming, people not coming?
• 14:13:27
  Well, I can tell you that West Palm Beach
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  and Palm Beach, those two names are in
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  the media every single day, thousands of
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  times, you know, no doubt.
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  And obviously, that creates a desire for
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  people to to see the ones that they know
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  they know, but the
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  others will start searching.
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  And we in all of our search engine
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  optimizations and AI optimization, we're
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  making sure that we provide the
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  information or make the information
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  available in those sources.
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  And we have noticed that regardless of
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  why the name is brought to the media, the
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  fact of the matter is that the intention
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  to travel and to visit
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  has gone up tremendously.
• 14:14:08
  Because I mean, it's it's it's that's the
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  nature of the business when you something
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  start being mentioned in TV or radio or
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  print or digital media.
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  Obviously, people will start searching
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  and we've been maximizing that
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  opportunity as well.
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  Outstanding. Very interesting.
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  West Palm Beach has also gone through a
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  period of time, especially coming out of
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  the pandemic, where the term Wall Street
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  South has been associated with the
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  explosive growth in financial and
• 14:14:40
  business here in the city.
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  What has that done for our profile? Is
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  that something that has been a positive
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  or negative as far as
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  tourism is concerned?
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  Having the opportunity to work very close
• 14:14:51
  to the BDB Business Development Award and
• 14:14:53
  the leadership over there, Kelly
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  Smallridge, she's phenomenal.
• 14:14:58
  The current chairman of the board,
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  Michael J. Prince, it
• 14:15:02
  is it is a privilege.
• 14:15:03
  And what they've been able to do for the
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  destination in attracting new business,
• 14:15:09
  not only because of a Wall Street South,
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  which is a phenomenal slogan that it's
• 14:15:12
  working, but also the fact that we've
• 14:15:15
  been able to get close and make sure that
• 14:15:16
  the two most important components
• 14:15:18
  that attract visitors or investors are
• 14:15:23
  the efforts that BDB is leading and then
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  the efforts were
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  leading to attract visitors.
• 14:15:28
  And when you put those two together, I'm
• 14:15:30
  going to make you a short story. There is
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  one. It's called the Vitality Wheel.
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  It is a concept studied in tourism in
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  which most likely and I have met so many
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  people in our county and here in West
• 14:15:43
  Palm Beach, as a matter of
• 14:15:44
  fact, that are a result of this.
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  Vitality Wheel, which is everything start
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  with a visit. You come here, you like it.
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  You come back. You know what, honey,
• 14:15:54
  let's go back there. I love it.
• 14:15:56
  We spent a great weekend and West Palm
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  Beach. I want to go back. And guess what?
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  From that visit, you know what? I like
• 14:16:02
  really I would like to live here.
• 14:16:04
  And then, you know, you make the
• 14:16:05
  decision. I want to live in West Palm
• 14:16:07
  Beach. And then said, you know what? But
• 14:16:09
  I need to work in West Palm Beach.
• 14:16:11
  And most of this are entrepreneurs. They
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  own and they start investing. So what
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  started with the visit became a resident
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  and that resident started working here
• 14:16:21
  and they invested here.
• 14:16:23
  And that cycle, again, we were not saying
• 14:16:26
  everything that is happening is because
• 14:16:28
  tourism. But I can tell you that a lot of
• 14:16:30
  people that are investing now here in
• 14:16:32
  West Palm Beach and across the county,
• 14:16:35
  they were a visitor first.
• 14:16:36
  And that's part of the cycle that we
• 14:16:38
  believe we bring to the table that in
• 14:16:39
  conjunction with the phenomenal efforts
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  done by not only the BDB, but as well
• 14:16:44
  other chambers that we have across the
• 14:16:47
  county and the arrays and CRAs.
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  Excuse me, the DAs and CRAs. It's a
• 14:16:52
  phenomenal teamwork.
• 14:16:54
  You speak the truth because historically
• 14:16:57
  there is proof that these types of
• 14:17:00
  changes, people visiting and then
• 14:17:02
  deciding to stay is absolutely the truth.
• 14:17:05
  Back in the end of World War Two, a great
• 14:17:07
  deal of the servicemen who were trained
• 14:17:10
  in moving through the system to go to
• 14:17:12
  Europe were coming
• 14:17:13
  through West Palm Beach.
• 14:17:14
  A lot of them came here, saw what we had,
• 14:17:17
  saw the beauty, saw the tropical
• 14:17:19
  qualities of it and decided when they
• 14:17:21
  came back from the war that they were
• 14:17:23
  going to make West Palm Beach their home.
• 14:17:25
  So you're spot on. People who get an
• 14:17:27
  opportunity to come visit us, to sample
• 14:17:30
  our culture, to sample our hospitality
• 14:17:32
  will often make the decision that this is
• 14:17:34
  a great place to live.
• 14:17:36
  And to add to that, just think about what
• 14:17:39
  is happening right now. Significant
• 14:17:41
  investment left and right in West Palm
• 14:17:44
  Beach, attracting financial institutions,
• 14:17:46
  attracting technology driven companies,
• 14:17:50
  looking to establish not only a branch,
• 14:17:52
  the main headquarters of those companies
• 14:17:54
  are moving from
• 14:17:55
  California, from New York.
• 14:17:56
  They're coming here because we've been
• 14:17:58
  able to provide not only the incentive
• 14:18:01
  for them to come, but the quality of
• 14:18:03
  place and quality of life that is so
• 14:18:05
  important at this moment for any business
• 14:18:07
  to decide to move their
• 14:18:09
  operations to another place.
• 14:18:11
  And when you put that together and then
• 14:18:13
  you factor in the tourism, you know, what
• 14:18:15
  everything, the quality of place, tourism
• 14:18:18
  is really important in
• 14:18:19
  enhancing the quality of place.
• 14:18:20
  I mean, you bring a hotel, you bring a
• 14:18:22
  restaurant and that will make it better
• 14:18:24
  not only for the visitors, but as well
• 14:18:25
  for us that we enjoy
• 14:18:27
  that here as residents.
• 14:18:29
  I think we're selling a lot of people who
• 14:18:30
  live here who may not have known about
• 14:18:32
  the effort that's being made in tourism
• 14:18:34
  to see that this is really a good thing.
• 14:18:36
  What can folks who live here do to help
• 14:18:40
  promote it? What can they
• 14:18:42
  do to make your life easier?
• 14:18:45
  That's one of the most important
• 14:18:46
  components of the success we've been
• 14:18:48
  experiencing. Now let me tell you why.
• 14:18:50
  Close to 38 percent. That's a big number.
• 14:18:53
  38 percent of all our visitors in a way
• 14:18:55
  or another arrive here because of a
• 14:18:57
  friend or family that
• 14:18:58
  they have in the county.
• 14:19:00
  So when you do the math, I mean, we had
• 14:19:03
  10.7 million visitors last year and I'm
• 14:19:05
  telling you that 38 percent in a way or
• 14:19:07
  another came here because they have
• 14:19:09
  either a friend, a
• 14:19:10
  family or somebody here.
• 14:19:13
  So what we're trying to do is to make
• 14:19:14
  sure we provide our residents with the
• 14:19:16
  tools and we have this program. It's
• 14:19:18
  called Love the Palm Beaches.
• 14:19:20
  And you can go and be part of the groups
• 14:19:22
  that we have available in different
• 14:19:24
  social media platforms.
• 14:19:25
  And we will provide you with photos and
• 14:19:28
  things that you could use on videos. So
• 14:19:31
  if you want to really invite a friend,
• 14:19:33
  you can send a video of,
• 14:19:34
  I don't know, clematis.
• 14:19:36
  Or you can send a video of the waterfront
• 14:19:39
  when you have the bow show, which is
• 14:19:40
  going to happen in a few weeks. So again,
• 14:19:43
  that's what we're trying to do because at
• 14:19:44
  the end of the day, the residents, they
• 14:19:47
  are not only the ones that invite, but
• 14:19:49
  also they are the ones that provide the
• 14:19:51
  experience to our visitors.
• 14:19:53
  And we want to be hand in hand with them
• 14:19:54
  connected at all levels, knowing what
• 14:19:56
  they expect, what they want, what they
• 14:19:58
  don't want so we can provide
• 14:20:00
  it in the best possible way.
• 14:20:02
  So in effect, you have almost an
• 14:20:03
  ambassador program that's grassroots.
• 14:20:05
  Correct. Correct.
• 14:20:06
  That's really, really neat. And their
• 14:20:08
  endorsement is going to be
• 14:20:11
  fantastic. They live here.
• 14:20:14
  Yes. They want you to
• 14:20:15
  come. That's fantastic.
• 14:20:17
  And one of the things that we are
• 14:20:18
  intentional on this is that we don't want
• 14:20:21
  to become, I mean, I'm going to say this
• 14:20:24
  with a lot of respect, but we are
• 14:20:26
  surrounded by phenomenal destinations,
• 14:20:27
  Orlando, Broward, Miami.
• 14:20:30
  But we respect that type of tourism. We
• 14:20:33
  are different here. We have this sense of
• 14:20:35
  balance that our residents wants to
• 14:20:38
  maintain and our visitors wants to enjoy.
• 14:20:42
  And that balance is key and everything
• 14:20:44
  that we're doing as an organization, not
• 14:20:46
  only as Discover, but as well as as part
• 14:20:49
  of the TDC, the Tourist Development
• 14:20:51
  Council component, which includes not
• 14:20:52
  only us, but as well the Sports
• 14:20:54
  Commission, the Cultural Council, the
• 14:20:56
  Film and TV, the Convention Center,
• 14:20:59
  Environmental Resources Management.
• 14:21:00
  We think together to make sure that we
• 14:21:02
  provide the balance between what we need
• 14:21:05
  to do to attract people, but also to make
• 14:21:07
  sure that we understand and we pay
• 14:21:10
  attention to the
• 14:21:11
  expectations of our residents.
• 14:21:13
  One of the incredible resources you bring
• 14:21:15
  to the table is the website full of
• 14:21:18
  information that's designed for people
• 14:21:21
  thinking of coming to visit here.
• 14:21:22
  But honestly, it's full of really great
• 14:21:24
  information for folks
• 14:21:26
  who already live here.
• 14:21:28
  There are restaurant listings. There are
• 14:21:31
  places to visit. I don't know how many
• 14:21:33
  times I've been in a situation where I've
• 14:21:35
  had people visiting out of state. I'm
• 14:21:36
  going, gee, what shall I have them do?
• 14:21:38
  Oh, I'll take a look at this website. I'm
• 14:21:40
  up with some great ideas. And that URL is
• 14:21:44
  the PalmBeaches.com.
• 14:21:47
  And it is a fabulous, fabulous website to
• 14:21:50
  gain a tremendous amount of information.
• 14:21:52
  Well, let me tell you, I mean, we are
• 14:21:55
  tourists in this beautiful, my wife and
• 14:21:57
  I, my family. And sometimes on a Saturday
• 14:21:59
  afternoon, my wife will tell
• 14:22:01
  me, let's go to such place.
• 14:22:02
  So this restaurant, I said, where did you
• 14:22:04
  find that place in your website? You
• 14:22:07
  know, it's there. So there you go. It is
• 14:22:09
  a very useful tool for
• 14:22:10
  the residents as well.
• 14:22:13
  In wrapping up, if you had the
• 14:22:15
  opportunity to share a message with the
• 14:22:17
  folks who live here, the folks who are
• 14:22:19
  involved in in developing and keeping
• 14:22:22
  this culture alive and making this place
• 14:22:24
  the wonderful place that it is to visit.
• 14:22:26
  What was what be your
• 14:22:27
  message about what you do to them?
• 14:22:30
  Well, we understand the values and
• 14:22:32
  principles of our residents. We
• 14:22:33
  understand what they want and we know
• 14:22:35
  what they don't want.
• 14:22:36
  And our goal is to bring sustainable and
• 14:22:39
  responsible tourism to West Palm Beach
• 14:22:41
  and the county in order to maintain the
• 14:22:44
  95000 people that works directly and
• 14:22:46
  indirectly of this of this industry that
• 14:22:49
  they generate more than eleven point
• 14:22:52
  seven billion dollars in economic impact
• 14:22:54
  to to to not only West Palm
• 14:22:57
  Beach, but to the entire county.
• 14:22:58
  We're one of the largest silos in our
• 14:23:03
  economy, in our county economy. And we
• 14:23:05
  want to make sure that we represent them
• 14:23:07
  with a lot of, you know, very proud and
• 14:23:10
  make sure that when any visitors in any
• 14:23:13
  place of the world, they decide to
• 14:23:15
  connect and visit us, they will see that
• 14:23:17
  through value of being this wonderful
• 14:23:20
  place where the sense of balance, where
• 14:23:22
  the prosperity, where the well-being
• 14:23:25
  feelings, it will be part and will
• 14:23:27
  enhance the aspirations of the world.
• 14:23:28
  And that's what we're trying to convey
• 14:23:33
  every single day is quite a challenge,
• 14:23:36
  but you guys are surely up to it. And
• 14:23:38
  thank you so much for spending your time
• 14:23:40
  with us. Thank you so much for the
• 14:23:41
  invitation. Keep on
• 14:23:42
  keeping on. Thank you.
• 14:23:44
  And thank you for joining us for Inside
• 14:23:46
  West Palm Beach. Check out the county's
• 14:23:48
  tourist information site at the
• 14:23:50
  PalmBeaches.com and visit the
• 14:23:53
  city's page at visit WPB.org.
• 14:23:55
  Inside West Palm Beach is a production of
• 14:23:58
  the West Palm Beach Communications
• 14:24:00
  Department. I'm Jerry
• 14:24:01
  Marcello. We'll see you next time.