Seminole County, Florida – Seminole County leaders want to build a multimillion-dollar indoor sports facility, and they say it won't require any tax dollars.
Recently, the County Commission took the following steps necessary to create a so-called Tourism Improvement District.
By allowing hotels to add additional fees to guests' room rates, it will create a new flow of tourism funding.
“This is really a win-win for everyone,” Commissioner Jay Zembower said.
News 6 spoke with Zenbower about the plans and how important sports tourism is to the county.
“Unlike Osceola County or Orange County, we don't have a big theme park,” Zenbower said. “We have two: sports tourism and ecotourism. So we have to pay close attention to how these trends go, and what we are seeing is that by 2028 By 2020, these trends will have plateaued.
The Boomba Sports Complex near Sanford Airport generates millions of dollars in revenue each year as players and families flock to the facility for tournaments. All of those people end up staying in Seminole County and spending their money there.
County leaders hope the indoor sports facility will be “Boombah 2.0.” Data presented to the board at a recent meeting showed the projected economic impact could double revenue over the next few years, bringing in more than $34 million from out-of-county visitors by year five.
The county wants to establish a Tourism Improvement District (TID) to help pay for the facility, which could cost up to $100 million. It will be built near Cameron Avenue and Lake Mary Boulevard, where Moore Station's existing soccer field is located.
“It's for cheerleading events, volleyball, basketball, graduation ceremonies,” Zembower said.
TID would be funded by hoteliers rather than taxpayers. Larger hotels will charge an additional fee for each room each night. This is in addition to the current tourism tax and state sales tax, leaving the establishment and collection of TID ratings at the discretion of hotels.
General managers of local hotels who addressed the county commission said they supported it.
“Due to COVID-19, our hotel was closed for two months,” said Jaclyn Lorigan, general manager of the Hilton Inn in Altamonte Springs. Lorigan said Seminole County's sports tourism industry “saved a lot of jobs and kept hotels afloat.”
“We were able to successfully take over a hotel that was literally on the brink of collapse two years ago due to the impact of COVID-19 and set us up for success,” said Bruce Squalo, general manager of the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary. “If it wasn't for sports tourism, we wouldn't be doing this.”
Squalo called indoor sports venues “the next step.”
The county would require a majority of hoteliers to support the creation of a tourism improvement district. Once that's done, we'll move on to the next step. If all goes according to plan, fundraising could begin in February 2025.
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