New Discover The Palm Beaches leader faces pivotal time in industry, pledges to draw visitors
Discover The Palm Beaches, Palm Beach County's tourism marketing arm, has a new leader for a pivotal time in the county's thriving hospitality industry.
After a national search, Milton Segarra was selected to replace Jorge Persquera, the retiring president and chief executive of the agency. Segarra's appointment is effective Oct. 1.
Pesquera announced earlier this year that he would retire after 16 years leading the agency through booms but also challenges presented by hurricanes, the late 2000s Great Recession and the 2020 pandemic. During a Sept. 15 retirement party at The Breakers on Palm Beach, Pesquera praised Segarra as the right professional needed to steer the county's tourism industry to the next level.
Segarra, who joined the organization last year as chief marketing officer, has had a varied career in the tourism industry.
Prior to his role with Discover The Palm Beaches, Segarra served as chief executive of the Coastal Mississippi Tourism Board, where he led the creation of a destination brand, Coastal Mississippi. Segarra has worked in the private sector at major hotel chains such as Hilton and Hyatt. He also previously served as executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and held a cabinet position as Secretary of Economic Development for Puerto Rico.
In an interview, Segarra said he is eager to build on the solid tourism marketing foundation that Pesquera has established.
"How do we take something that is great, and take it to an even greater level?" Segarra said.
Another convention center hotel could be in the works
Under Pesquera's leadership, Palm Beach County’s tourism industry grew to become a $10 billion industry. Tourism tax collections, also known as "bed tax" collections, rose to $78 million from $26.8 million in 2007.
Most notably, Palm Beach County has grown into a major tourism destination, with a record-breaking 9.1 million people visiting the county in 2022. That figure was up 31% from 2021. Some 35 hotels were built during Pesquera's tenure.
And Discover The Palm Beaches grew more than 200% to $26.5 million from $8.5 million. So where does the county go from here? Segarra said tourism planning is at a critical juncture.
By year-end, Palm Beach County is slated to issue a request for proposals to build a second hotel at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach. The existing 400-room Hilton West Palm Beach, which opened in 2016, is not big enough to draw large conventions needing 1,000 hotel rooms or more close to the facility, Segarra said.
With more hotel rooms, "we have a real potential to turn our district into one of the top five in the nation for the mid-sized group market," Segarra said.
Until a new hotel is built, Segarra said Discover The Palm Beaches is working to target smaller groups, including in the city's burgeoning financial industry, that may not in the past have considered the Palm Beach County Convention Center for meetings.
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Political winds beating back group meetings
Even with the county's new hotels and amenities, boosting convention business might be a heavier lift than ever anticipated.
New bills signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, now a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, have led to travel advisory warnings that the state is hostile to people of color, immigrants, women and the LGBTQ+ community. Some convention centers in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale even reported canceled conventions based on new Florida laws.
Segarra said so far no conventions have been canceled at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, and he credits Discover The Palm Beach's efforts to reassure clients, planners and partners.
During the last three to four months, "when every single day Gov. DeSantis and all his policies are all over the media, we created a uniform message for the (county's tourism) agencies," Segarra said.
The message is that "the Palm Beaches welcomes everyone," a statement that reinforces the county's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, Segarra said.
The Palm Beaches Collection campaign to target more vacationers
On the leisure side, Segarra said Discover is slated to launch a new advertising campaign in November.
Dubbed The Palm Beaches Collection, the campaign will highlight different markets served by the county's tourism industry, be it the family market, the budget market, or the luxury market, he said.
The county is known for its luxury accommodations, but Segarra said the campaign's goal is to showcase that the county has diverse offerings for all types of visitors. "This will help us maintain and increase our leisure business," he said.
Other major goals include the creation of a county tourism master plan, as well as developing a new strategic plan for Discover The Palm Beaches for the next three to five years.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer and columnist at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New Palm Beach County tourism chief pledges to draw visitors, conventions
