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Visit Pensacola tells CRA Pensacola lacks conference space to capture larger events
Summary
Visit Pensacola officials told the CRA they generated $27 million in business leads in FY25 and lost opportunities worth millions due to limited venue capacity; they recommended pursuing a larger conference center (about 75,000—00,000 sq ft) and supported improvements to the Pensacola Bay Center.
Visit Pensacola representatives briefed the CRA on convention-sales activity, local economic impact and facility constraints.
Darren Schaefer (Visit Pensacola) said the organization is the countys official destination marketing organization and fields year-round sales work to bring meetings and conferences to Escambia County. He said Visit Pensacolas sales team generated more than $27,000,000 in business leads in fiscal year 2025 and secured over $10,000,000 in confirmed bookings. "In our last fiscal year, fiscal year 25, the sales team generated more than $27,000,000 in business leads, and from that we secured over $10,000,000 in confirmed bookings," Schaefer said.
Tia Robbins, destination sales manager, told the board that Pensacola repeatedly turns down or cannot commit to larger events because of limited space and scheduling conflicts at existing venues, citing two recent lost opportunities: a 3,000-person launch event and a 2,500-person symposium. "We just aren't able to land [these events] because of limitations and availability of our facility," Robbins said. She and Schaefer said meeting planners prefer dedicated ballroom and breakout space rather than flexible arena conversions that require temporary carpeting and acoustical adjustments.
Board members pressed Visit Pensacola on the sweet spot for conferences and hotel capacity. Robbins said the current practical sweet spot in the market is about 400 for banquet functions because of hotel and existing venue limits, but Visit Pensacolas turn-down report showed the city could recapture a large share of lost events with a 100,000-square-foot conference center and roughly 20,000'5,000 square feet of ballroom space. Mayor Reeves provided perspective: a typical market-size estimate for Pensacola was about 150,000 square feet and the largest existing floor is roughly 23,000 square feet.
Visit Pensacola also discussed coordination with Pensacola Sports and local hotels and said airport access helps the destination draw meetings from neighboring counties. Board members thanked the presenters and asked staff to continue conversations about appropriate venue size and supporting hotel inventory.
Ending: The presentation concluded with board members acknowledging the economic case for more convention-type space while noting trade-offs about hotel capacity and location.
