Tourism & Destination Marketing for Florida Cities
We Built This City On…
We built this city on being a fun place to visit & live! Attracting visitors & residents to a city is a long but rewarding effort. There's many initiatives that need to take shape in order for a city’s tourism to grow effectively. Having the right leadership in place is where it first starts & then from there many more elements can fall into place. Thankfully, those elements were all in place during our time managing the city of Delray Beach, Florida’s tourism campaigns.
From 2009-2018 our team was fortunate to execute some of the most successful marketing campaigns the city of Delray Beach has ever produced. From full 360 national & international campaigns like our “Be Hot Here” campaign, to localized efforts including earned media, the city experienced a wave of growth that has now cemented it as a destination in South Florida.
City wide
growth report
You can see from the numbers below, Delray Beach tourism had an explosive rise. To accomplish this, many stake-holders had to participate but for our portion, we focused on key tactics that established awareness, and drove tourism + residents into the city. Tourism campaign efforts included social media, SEO, public relations, travel writers, experiential marketing & events, and print mailers.
Growth in new residents
Growth in single family home value
Growth in retails & restaurant sales
Remarkably successful city
Different City. Similar Success
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a tourism marketing agency do?
A tourism marketing agency drives visitor awareness, trip planning engagement, and destination bookings through paid advertising, content, social media, and SEO. At JOA, we help South Florida tourism businesses and destinations reach travelers at the moment of discovery — across search, social, and increasingly, AI-powered travel planning tools.
How are travelers discovering destinations in 2026?
Travel discovery has fundamentally shifted. Travelers spend an average of 5+ hours engaging with travel content in the 45 days before booking. Over one-third now use AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews to plan trips. Short-form video on TikTok and Instagram drives inspiration. Destinations that appear across all of these touchpoints, not just search results , win the booking.
What marketing channels work best for tourism businesses?
Paid social (Meta and TikTok) drives inspiration and awareness. Google Ads captures high-intent searches like "things to do in South Florida." Google Business Profile and local SEO are critical for attraction and hospitality businesses. Video content consistently delivers the highest ROI, products and experiences with video see dramatically higher conversion rates than those without.
How important are reviews for tourism and hospitality businesses?
Reviews are now a marketing asset, not just a customer service metric. Search engines and AI systems factor review recency, volume, and sentiment into visibility rankings. Destinations and attractions with consistent, recent positive reviews outperform competitors in both traditional search and AI recommendations. JOA includes reputation management as a core part of every tourism marketing strategy.
How do tourism businesses show up in AI travel recommendations?
AI search tools recommend destinations based on authoritative, structured content that directly answers traveler questions. To appear in AI-generated answers, tourism businesses need accurate structured data, clear FAQ content, consistent business information across all platforms, and citations from credible travel sources. As of 2026, 50% of Google searches are "zero-click" , meaning AI answers the question without the user visiting any website.
How long does it take to see results from tourism marketing?
Paid campaigns targeting high-intent travel searches typically produce measurable results within 2–4 weeks. SEO and content strategies take 3–6 months to build organic momentum. The most effective approach combines both paid for immediate visibility and organic for long-term, compounding growth.