DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach businesses said banning spring break because of a pop-up event is sending the wrong message to tourists. We first showed you video of chaos on the beach on March 15th, after a pop-up event the day before.
Since then, several business owners tell us they’ve experienced a major loss in revenue.
“There was like a drop in sales. Literally 40 percent from last year,” said Christos Mavronas, Owner of Steve’s Famous Diner.
“I don’t see families, I don’t see collegiate students, and all the businesses I believe are suffering,” said Kyriakos Drymonis, Owner of Razzle’s and The Oyster Pub.
They believe that an unpermitted event drove tourists out of town, and the city’s response, suggesting an all-out ban on spring break, didn’t help.
“Anyone who wants to come enjoy our beach, we welcome them. We can’t tell people they can’t come here,” said Mavronas.
The Daytona Beach Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau – or the CVB - spends millions of dollars on campaigns to bring people to the city every year. But Executive Director Lori Campbell Baker said they don’t focus on spring break.
“The spring break that happens in Daytona now is all about different events, like cultural events or athletic competitions,” said Campbell Baker.
For two years the CVB had a billboard in Times Square promoting a family friendly vacation destination. This year, it’s launching an inflatable message in a bottle that will appear at festivals in other states.
“Our spring break is basically one bad Saturday with central Florida people here. They say this is a family destination, I don’t know what families are supposed to do here.”
Scott Edwards played a pivotal role in spring break marketing in the area for decades and said the current approach isn’t working. He wants to see the city go back to partnering with colleges, to create a more controlled spring break environment.
“In Fort Lauderdale, the mayor goes on tv welcoming collegiates, here they don’t want them,” said Edwards.
We asked for numbers of bookings and cancelations from a couple of the bigger hotels in Daytona Beach from the last 10 days, we are still waiting to get those.an unpermitted event drove tourists out of town, and the city’s response, suggesting an all-out ban on spring break,
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