Discover the Palm Beaches presents 2024 visitation numbers and tourism master plan progress

Discover the Palm Beaches delivered updated visitation and development figures to the Boca Raton City Council during the April 7 workshop.

Gustav Weibel, senior vice president of research, said Boca Raton attracted about 1,350,000 visitors in 2024, a nearly 4 percent increase from 2023, and that the city’s 3,335 hotel rooms saw a modest rise in room nights sold. He noted the Boca Beach Club’s partial closure during the year reduced potential gains. Weibel said six hotels are in the local pipeline, representing just under 1,000 rooms, and estimated those projects could generate between about 500 and 1,000 jobs depending on the scale of each development.

Milton Segura, president and CEO, emphasized walkability as a component of destination competitiveness and said Discover the Palm Beaches is completing research for a tourism master plan. The research phase included interviews with more than 200 countywide stakeholders (about 10 from Boca Raton), review of city and county planning documents and zoning files, and will lead into a June visioning workshop with live polling and public engagement.

The presenters also described what they called an economic-impact metric, stating "every single dollar that we spend, we generate a $109 in economic impact"; council members did not provide supporting backup during the presentation.

Why it matters: Councilmembers said tourism underpins local business and can influence longer-term planning in housing, transportation and downtown development. The staff and Discover the Palm Beaches said they will return with the master-plan visioning materials in June for further public discussion.