Hello Everyone, and as always, thank you for your continued cooperation, collaboration and support.
 
I’m sure you would agree, one of the most distinguishing elements of this amazing destination is our culinary scene – a sensational mosaic of cultures and foods I think is second to none. That said, we have an obligation to ensure that the inclusion and celebration of our food scene is just that – inclusive. Many off-the-beaten path and unique dining spots throughout Greater Miami and Miami Beach play a vital role in the promotion, and quite frankly, rapid growth of many of our up-and-coming neighborhoods. I, for one, find that the off-the-beaten path is often the path that leads to great experiences.
 
So, with that as a backdrop, I’m pleased to share that we’ve partnered with Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative. I’m especially pleased (if your appetite is anything like mine) to invite you to join us on Saturday, June 4th as we celebrate the 2nd Annual Black Pepper Food & Wine Festival featuring more than 20 chefs – many who you may have heard of and many more you will have the opportunity to meet and sample. The festival takes place on the picturesque grounds of the FIU Biscayne Bay Campus and will be serving amazing fare from 3:00 pm through 8:00 pm.

Here are just some of the amazing chefs and restaurants that are participating:

Red Rooster Overtown, Sweet Delights Cheesecakes, House of Mac, Dukunoo Wynwood, Lorna’s Caribbean & American Grill, Victory Restaurant & Lounge, Fatboy's Wings & Tings, Bar One Miami Beach, Honey Uninhibited, The Bang Shack, Ikrave, Nelly's Fried Ice Cream, Sundays Eatery and Wynwood Parlor.                                        

Click here for tickets to the Black Pepper Food & Wine Festival. I encourage you to forward this information to your colleagues, friends and fellow foodies and please join us on June 4th.

Beyond all that transpired on the track and all the amazing events and parties, for us, we like to focus on audience development and economic impact (including of course destination value proposition and hotel revenue). As is illustrated below, hotel demand (rooms booked) for the key three nights of Thursday through Saturday was actually down slightly from 2019.

But what is a compelling and vivid example of the strategic approach to align the value proposition and interest of Formula 1, the audience targeted and the price point per room is the somewhat incredible stat line below.  The Average Daily Rate our hotels were able to charge (and remember, this is just the overall county-wide average) was over 128% higher (more than double) 2019 rates. With this rate, hotels still enjoyed occupancy levels of 77% on Friday night and 79% on Saturday night.

The economic impact of this alone is well, as one could say - simply “grand.” This experience in year one will be a base-line for future planning as we are blessed to have F1 return again for many years to come.
 
Happy Friday everyone.

David Whitaker, President & CEO
Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau