After President Donald Trump canceled the Republican National Convention Jacksonville events on July 23, Visit Jacksonville, the convention and visitors bureau for Jacksonville and the Beaches, issued a statement to its members and partners:
“Thank you for all of your incredible flexibility and support for this event. We are very proud of all the hard work you did to accommodate this event in such a short time. Visit Jacksonville and our entire hospitality community showed we can quickly organize to host a major event. We are eager to get our industry back to work after months of closures, but we understand this tough decision was made to further ensure the safety and health of potential visitors, our tourism family and the overall Jacksonville community.”
Downtown hoteliers were expecting every room to be sold during the convention. The properties reported a 35% occupancy for the week ended July 18 and more than 50% lower than the same week last year.
Daily Record news partner WJXT TV-4 reported July 22 that it obtained a memo from the Republican National Committee that was sent to local hotels. It showed where all delegates would be staying and the areas of Northeast Florida that will be impacted.
In all, 44 area hotels Downtown, at the Beaches and in Southside, Orange Park, St. Augustine and Amelia Island would have be used.
“This convention is going to impact every area of town - positively impacted, which means economic resources into every different area of our beautiful city and really the whole region,” Visit Jacksonville President and CEO Michael Corrigan told WJXT.