HOW TO SPEND THE HOLIDAYS IN GREATER FORT LAUDERDALE

Greater Fort Lauderdale is its own kind of winter wonderland. This month in Greater Fort Lauderdale is filled with holiday spirit. You’ll find concerts, special events and seasonal traditions with a Florida twist all across this destination. And with the warm and sunny weather, it’s easy to get out and explore them all. See what's happening!

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade with Grand Marshal, Bret Michaels, sets sail this Saturday, December 14 from the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Watch out for the CVB's themed 'Lights, Camera, Action" Underground barge on the water. The best way to see the parade is viewing from the Grandstand Viewing Area, just north of Sunrise Boulevard at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. Parade gets underway at 6:30 p.m. along downtown Fort Lauderdale and should arrive at this area around 7:30 p.m. 

Art Fort Lauderdale​ (January 23-26), a 4-day curated art fair that transports attendees on a journey along the famed Intracoastal Waterway via water taxi and private yacht. Guest will stop at vacant multimillion dollar waterfront properties featuring emerging artists exhibiting various styles and methods of art that reflect the past, the present and the future. This destination art fair seeks to highlight the uniqueness of our city and puts Greater Fort Lauderdale on the art world map as a premiere location to view, interact with and purchase art along with giving art aficionados, residents and visitors a cultural experience that is memorable, interactive and engaging. 

SEAGLASS | A Greater Fort Lauderdale Rosé Experience (February 8-9), a first-of-its-kind, this two-day event immerses guests in a rosé experience second to none. Set on the sands of Fort Lauderdale beach – with the Atlantic Ocean as the backdrop, SEAGLASS showcases more than 30 varietals of the world’s finest rose wines and more than 20 winemakers, spirit producers, chefs, along with perfectly paired culinary options throughout the weekend.

Journey back to the 16th century as you step through castle gates and into the days of yore at the Renaissance Festival at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach. Explore the artisans' village and view live demos of glassblowing, steel-fighting, archery, and more. Feast on hearty food fit for a king while enjoying live performances on stage and in the lanes, including thrice-daily jousting events. February 8-March 22, weekends only.

The 17th Annual Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food (SOBEWFF®) festival returns, along with the Crave Greater Fort Lauderdale series, February 19-23. Click here for a list of the star-studded line-up of talent coming to Greater Fort Lauderdale.

GET IN THE BIG GAME

South Florida is gearing up to host Super Bowl LIV, February 2, 2020, for a record 11th time at the Hard Rock Stadium. A microsite featuring all the activities taking place in Greater Fort Lauderdale surrounding the "Big Game" is in development at sunny.org/superbowl.

If you have an event taking place or specials being offered during the game, please let us know! Contact Kim kcanter@broward.org with details. 

OCTOBER STATS

Greater Fort Lauderdale Average Hotel Occupancy
October 2019
% Change
72.37% 
+2.4%
Greater Fort Lauderdale Average Hotel Daily Rate
October 2019
% Change
$125.23
-1.1%

IN THE NEWS

SOCIAL BUZZ

In celebration of Riptide Music Festival, we hosted eight highly popular social media influencers to spread the word on the event, our @visitlauderdale booth and the expanded fashion and culinary offerings this year. Attendees included Jen Saviano from The Bachelor, @emiliesobel from Miami and several Greater Fort Lauderdale based influencers like @saucistyle and @ftlauderdalefoodies. Combined, they had a reach of more than 350K followers.

Additionally, our Matador Network video campaign with travel influencer @onegrloneworld and Greater Fort Lauderdale expert @marisafolz of @tothewandershop went live this month, with anticipated impressions of 17+ million across Matador’s website, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The videos covered how to travel like a local in Greater Fort Lauderdale. See an example of the videos here.

Did you follow Cosmopolitan’s Entertainment Editor Hannah Chambers during her “Insta-itinerary” visit to Greater Fort Lauderdale? Her article of our most social-media worthy spots is now live on the magazine’s website. Read the article here.

GFLCVB HIGHLIGHTS

RIPTIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Riptide Music Festival, Broward County's Signature Event, was a huge success! The Visit Lauderdale VIP lounge was host to many artists through out the weekend and the Underground Village activation booth featured local cultural highlights such as art and culinary experiences. Festival goers were welcomed by a towering Rainbow Tunnel upon entering Greater Fort Lauderdale’s Underground Village – a first-ever element designed to capture the essence of the destination’s culture in one multi-sensory experience.

We hosted several top journalists in Greater Fort Lauderdale to cover Riptide Music Festival, including Rolling Stone Magazine, YTV Canada, Quip Magazine Canada and a freelancer contributing to Lonely Planet, Fodors and Billboard. See some of the coverage below. 

Click here for highlights of the weekend! 

And to kick off the Riptide Music Festival, the CVB, along with Entercom and Ford Motor Company, hosted a 'Barefoot on the Beach' party with an intimate performance by Alex DiLeo and a spectacular fireworks ending. Stacy Ritter is pictured here with Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief, Von Freeman with Entercom and Ina Lee with Travelhost. Thank you to all who joined us during the weekend! 

UNDERGROUND LAUDERDALE

The feature film, “Waves,” filmed in Broward County the summer of 2018, received an award for ‘Best Feature’ at the IFP Gotham Awards in New York City last month. 

Hollywood ArtsPark Experience, a free series of family-friendly events at the Hollywood ArtsPark Amphitheater produced by The Rhythm Foundation, annouced their upcoming events. Click here for details.   

November Film Permits = 66 including Dr. K’s Exotics Animal ER; Einmal Camping, Immer Camping; Moochie; Ninja Stool; Ralph on the Road; Sun-filled Adventure Days in South Florida; Walk On’s Game On Foundation; 4ocean Products; Eastbay; Let’s Go Pompano; Restaurant Impossible; 100 Dias Para Enamorarse; API Energy; RedNova Learning; Uber Eats; Next Directory.

TOURISM SALES

Tracy Vaughan & Gabriel Martinez (pictured here) conducted travel trade events during a Canada Sales Mission in Toronto & Montreal, while Gonzalo Rubio conducted a New England Sales Mission for more than 50 travel advisors in in four states. Check out Travelweek's article on GFL while the team was in town for the Canada Sales Mission: Greater Fort Lauderdale: “Travel agents are the original influencers.”

Cruise World 2019 was held at the Broward County Convention Center last month with more than 800 travel advisors in attendance. Caitlan Etchevers and Gonzalo Rubio (pictured here) hosted a reception at the booth with Port Everglades and eight hotel partner and a pre- & post-conference FAM for 28 “Star Advisors." They also hosted a reception for 900+ attendees (the top influencers in the travel world) during the Phocuswright Conference at The Diplomat Beach Resort last month. 

The Tourism Sales team partnered up with Holland America, and for the first time, trained more than 300 travel advisors during Holland America's Road Show Training. The team also hosted a FAM for 50 AAA advisors from more than nine states and hosted their first of four Holland America FAM trips welcoming 24 Canadian travel advisors and the BDM’s from Holland America. Stay tuned for our upcoming FAM requests with Holland America Line.

Snapshot from the Germany office: 

The German office attended Reiselust Bremen (pictured here), a three day consumer show in Bremen (North Germany) with more than 40,000 people in attendance. The team participated at the Tour Operators’ booth “America Unlimited” and conducted daily 30 minute presentations on GFL. The German office also arranged two FAM groups to the destination last month with travel agents from BEST Reisen and Willy Scharnow Stiftung.

Snapshot from the UK office: 

The UK PR team secured two pieces of dedicated coverage this month surrounding Pride of the Americas in top LGBT+ publications, Gay Times and VADA Magazine, as well as a further three pieces of coverage on the destination as a whole. The team also worked closely with the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on a UK media trip opportunity this month. The sales & marketing team attended TTG New to Cruise Festival, educating agents on the cruise & stay opportunities in the destination.

SPORTS
DEVELOPMENT

Sports Development welcomes more than 30,000 athletes, coaches, and families to Greater Fort Lauderdale in December, attending events such as: Regional Sportaccord Pan America at the Broward County Convention Center along with Panam Sports Best Practices, Florida Senior Games taking place across Broward county, 86th Annual Capital One Orange Bowl Football game at Hard Rock Stadium, USTA Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, Youth National Football Championship in Miramar and Fort Lauderdale, and Kreul Classic Basketball Tournament in Coral Springs.

MULTICULTURAL
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Greater Fort Lauderdale welcomes more than 700 black state legislators from 46 states gathering for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) this month. 

The Multicultural team welcomed planners to the destination from Joint Council of Librarians of Color, Inc., Black Fire Chiefs Officers, the National African American Insurance Association and the Society Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science with two of the organizations committing to bring their conferences to the destination. 

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau is proud to be the presenting sponsor for Pride of the Americas, welcoming visitors from North America, the Caribbean and Latin America to the destination, April 21-26. Click here for a glimpse at what's to come.  

Pride Fort Lauderdale is working with Delmay and Partners in Hollywood to create a housing/hospitality program for the event. If your property would like to participate, contact Jeff Delmay at jeff@delmaycorp.com. To learn more about sponsorship, advertising and other marketing opportunities during Pride of the Americas, contact J.W. Arnold, Executive Director, at jw@pridefortlauderdale.com.

Pictured above Richard Gray with Gina Duncan, Director of Transgender Services for Equality Florida at their annual dinner at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort.  

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is working on their 2020 Guide. Please contact Keith Blackburn keith@gflglcc.org to be part of the guide. 

 

CONVENTION SALES 

A very big congratulations to our EVP of Convention Sales Ed Simon for being recognized as the HSMAI South Florida Sales & Marketing Professional of the Year at the 36th Annual Hospitality Awards Gala. Ed is pictured here with his CVB team.

OCTOBER CONFERENCES & CONVENTIONS

Groups meeting in December will generate more than $7 million to Broward County. Groups include:
Dec 1-3: Cruise Planners Annual Convention (700 attendees)
Dec 2-9: Israeli American Council Annual Meeting (3100 attendees)
Dec 5-7: National Black Caucus of State Legislators Annual Conference (350 attendees)
Dec 5-13: HCPA 2019 Annual Meeting (600 attendees)
Dec 6-11: Southern Carlson Annual Partner Conference (460 attendees)

FLL NEWS

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) has more than 350 average daily flights, offering non-stop service to more than 85 U.S. cities and more than 62 international destinations in 33 countries. As part of FLL’s Modernization Program, the airport continues to make enhancements to Terminals 2, 3 & 4 including maximizing passenger transition space and ticket counter area, new dining and shopping venues, new terminal security checkpoint and new U.S. Customs and Border Protection functionality, as well as connectors linking Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

October total traffic: 2,682,657, up +4.2%; domestic traffic: 2,105,501, up +4.7%; International traffic: 577,156, up +2.6%; YTD total traffic: 30,185,443, up +1.7%. According to the Airports Council International Report for YTD September 2019, FLL ranked 19th in total traffic and 10th in international traffic. 

NEW SERVICE 

  • Frontier Airlines: Cleveland and Cincinnati (Nov)
  • Southwest Airlines: Cleveland, Louisville, Boston (Nov, all seasonal)
  • Swoop: Winnipeg (Nov)
  • JetBlue: Steamboat Springs, CO (Dec, seasonal)
  • Air Transat: Vancouver (Dec)
  • Azul: Belo, Horizonte, Brazil (Dec)

Click here to read the latest edition of FLL’s NewsFLLash.

PORT EVERGLADES

Port Everglades welcomes Princess Cruises’ Sky Princess in December 2019 with alternating seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries for the 2020 sailing season. Guests will enjoy a relaxed pace while being introduced to the local cultures of each destination through curated, immersive experiences ashore.

In November 2020, Royal Caribbean will debut its newest ship, Odyssey of the Seas. This will mark Royal Caribbean's first Quantum Ultra Class ship to arrive in North America with capacity for more than 4,000 passengers. Also next year, Celebrity Cruises will introduce the Celebrity APEX, sister ship to Celebrity Edge, and luxury line Silversea Cruises will debut Silver Moon.

CVB TEAM ON THE MOVE

CVB team pictured above with Elaine Fitzgerald from Beach Vacation Rentals on a site tour of Pompano Beach. 

Dec 9-12: Tennessee Sales Mission, Memphis and Nashville
Dec 16: NECVB Reps Holiday Event, Boston
Dec 16: Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase Tradeshow, Chicago

Click here to check out more of our CVB team in action at various events and functions around the world.

HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN

Through Dec 13: Holiday Magic Experience, Bonnet House Museum & Gardens 
Through Dec 27: Existencia Natural – Natural Existence Exhibition, Pompano Beach Cultural Center
Through Dec 27: Works by Michelle Drummond Exhibition, Pompano Beach Cultural Center
Dec 9: John Mulaney & Pete Davidson, Hard Rock Live
Dec 10: Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, BB&T Center
Dec 12: Florida Panthers vs. New York Islanders, BB&T Center
Dec 13: 57th Annual Greater Pompano Beach & Lighthouse Point Holiday Boat Parade
Dec 13: Bret Michaels, Seminole Hard Rock Live
Dec 13: Trans-Siberian Orchestra, BB&T Center
Dec 13-14: A Christmas Story - The Musical, Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Dec 13-29: Criss Angel, Hard Rock Live 
Dec 14: Florida Panthers vs. Boston Bruins, BB&T Center
Dec 14: Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade        
Dec 15: Gay Men's Chorus of South Florida, Hard Rock Live
Dec 16: Florida Panthers vs. Ottawa Senators, BB&T Center
Dec 16-26: Stranahan House Holiday River Tours, Historic Stranahan House
Dec 20: Florida Panthers vs. Dallas Stars, BB&T Center
Dec 21: Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, BB&T Center
Dec 22: Y100 Jingle Ball 2019, BB&T Center
Dec 28: Florida Panthers vs. Detroit Red Wings, BB&T Center
Dec 29: Florida Panthers vs. Montreal Canadiens, BB&T Center
Dec 31: Downtown Countdown NYE Celebration

For more events visit sunny.org/events. If you would like to submit an event for approval, go to sunny.org/submit.

Best wishes,

Stacy Ritter, President