DeLand, FL-Update: County Council voted unanimously this morning to approve the cooperative advertising agreement with JetBlue. Previous reporting follows:
A low-cost airline could be getting a lot of money from Volusia County to advertise in New York City. Today’s Volusia County Council meeting could see council members agree to give JetBlue $400,000 in order to promote its new Daytona Beach to New York City non-stop route before daily service begins next year. That agreement is scheduled to be the very first item discussed during the morning session. According to the agenda item, 50% of that money will come directly from Daytona Beach International Airport, with another $150,000 being pulled from the Daytona Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. The advertising authorities of Southeast Volusia ($40,000) and West Volusia ($10,000) will provide the rest.
Volusia County Director of Community Information Dave Byron says the money will be given to JetBlue to spend as they see fit because of the company’s familiarity with advertising in the New York City market, considered one of the most expensive in the world. JetBlue is based in New York City and will use the county money along with its own dollars to promote the route, per Byron.
Most of that money should be spent on various forms of advertisement between October and November of this year, all of it for promoting the non-stop service between DBIA and John F. Kennedy International Airport in NYC. The county will also spend another $150,000 to $200,000 to promote the route in the greater Daytona Beach area. There’s also a “travel bank” of around $300,000 promised to JetBlue from local businesses that plan to use the route once service begins on January 7th. Byron says there should be lots of tickets being bought because of the big amount of New Yorkers who are moving to Florida, especially those living in Volusia and Flagler counties.
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