The Location

The South Florida Tourism Market

Every 1 percent increase in tourism activity in Florida translates into a gain of about $37 million in general revenue.  Destined to become south Florida’s most successful tourism attraction and event venue, the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum’s ability to foster increased cruise tourism is readily apparent.

Full and Part-Time Residents

Presently, 5.5 million people reside along southeast Florida's “Gold Coast” within 75 miles of the proposed home of the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum.  Projections peg an increase to 7.4 million by 2030.

A recent University of Florida study determined that one in four people aged 55 and older who permanently settle in Florida started as part-time residents.  Snowbirds flock here largely from the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest.  These full and part-time residents provide a receptive audience for the museum, particularly accompanied by their children and grand-children.  Indeed, the Kennedy Legacy resonates most strongly in the Northeast and Midwest (Florida's tourism “sweet spot”).  Every time the USS John F. Kennedy visited Boston, the line to tour the ship stretched literally for miles -- often in freezing temperatures -- demonstrating the area’s profound fondness for the ship, and the man.  During its last visit in March of 2007, over 150,000 people toured the ship in its first two days in port.

The Cruise Industry In Florida

Photo by Tom Martin

Competition among the top three cruise embarkation ports is heating up, with good reason.  Would-be Caribbean cruisers are presented with a choice of Florida cities from which to begin their vacation.  Each of these decisions impacts directly upon the Hospitality Industry of the city and port selected.

In 2006, direct cruise-related expenditures in Florida impacted just about all segments of the economy.  Tourism-related businesses in addition to the cruise lines, such as travel agencies, airlines, hotels, restaurants and providers of ground transportation were certainly the main beneficiaries of the cruise industry.  These tourism-related industries received approximately $2.4 billion, or 41 percent of the industry’s direct expenditures in Florida.  Another $821 million, or 17 percent of the total, was spent with businesses in ancillary categories.

John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum - Benefits To Host City

THE PRIMARY GOAL of tourism industry leaders in south Florida is to compel additional overnight stays by the Cruise Tourist Market.  The reason for this is self-evident, as the incremental marketing cost to compel an overnight stay by someone who is ALREADY COMING TO TOWN is significantly less than the cost of marketing the destination to would-be vacationers whose plans have yet to be made.  Fully 60% (1.82 million) of the annual 3 million cruise vacationers departing from either Miami or Fort Lauderdale do not spend a single night in south Florida.  In 2006, the “lost opportunity cost” represented by every single cruise vacationer who entered the state, but failed to spend at least one night, was $258.71 per person.

Photo by Tom Martin

As identified below, our projections indicate that for every 1% (18,200) of these 1.82 million cruisers we can help to compel to spend one night in South Florida, the Hospitality Industry will reap an additional $6.37 million in direct expenditures (in 2006 dollars).  The following demonstrates our approach to persuade an additional 8.3% (250,000) of Cruise Tourists to spend one night or more, representing a minimum of $87.5 million in direct expenditures annually beginning in 2010.

Historic Ship Tourism Market

“I stood in line Saturday 3/3/07 for three hours in order to set foot on the Big John for the last time. My father served on this ship for three years and used to talk about her as if she were a real person. It was a privilege to step aboard and feel the history of this great ship. She felt mighty under my feet and I was saddened that she is going to be decommissioned. The end of an era that will never be forgotten.”                                                

Karen Kennedy - Hanson, Massachusetts

As evidenced by testimonials like the one above, the market for “heritage tourism” in general, and “historic ship tourism” specifically, is enormous.  Consider that over 500,000 sailors and aviators served aboard the JFK, most of whom have friends and relatives who share similar sentiments.  By virtue of its namesake alone, we project that the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum will enjoy an incremental visitation benefit of as much as 25% over and above what might otherwise be projected for a supercarrier museum not named “John F. Kennedy.”

Owing largely to its year-round climate and central proximity to in-place tourism infrastructure, the most successful aircraft carrier museum in the United States, the USS Midway “San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum (SDACM),” will welcome nearly 950,000 visitors in this its third year of operation.  As the JFK CV-67 Memorial Foundation is projecting annual attendance of 1.2 million visitors, 250,000 beyond that of SDACM, it is incumbent upon the Foundation to quantify the basis for these projections.  The key lies in our proven ability to directly impact cruise tourist travel-planning behavior.

According to a recent study done by Exton, Pa.-based Business Research and Economic Advisors, which gathered and analyzed data for the Fort Lauderdale-based Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), cruise lines and their passengers spent $17.6 billion inside the U.S. in 2006.  The report showed that 12 million passengers took cruise vacations worldwide in 2006, with U.S. passengers making up 78 percent of those travelers.  Seven ships were added last year, and about 30 more are slated to be built by the end of 2011 as cruise lines anticipate there will be enough demand to fill some 80,000 new berths.

CLIA/BREA Cruise Industry Study - 2006

Florida is certainly the cruise capital of the world.

Over 5 million passengers, nearly 56 percent of U.S. cruise embarkations, boarded their cruises from one of Florida’s five cruise ports (Port of Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, Port of Tampa and Port of Jacksonville).

Given the proximity of cruise homeports in Florida, the state also led the nation in resident cruise passengers with 2.3 million resident passengers (25 percent of all U.S. resident cruise passengers).

With more than twice as many embarkations as resident passengers, the cruise industry in Florida is a net generator of tourism activity in the state.

Florida Passenger Embarkations: Florida Resident Cruise Passengers:

5.58 million  =  (56% of US Market) 2.3 million  =  (25% of US Market)

Port Of Embarkation Spending

Generated by a 2,000-Passenger Cruise Ship

As derived from the table above, each individual overnight stay by a cruiser represented a net $258.71 increase in direct expenditures to south Florida’s primary industry in 2006.  Factoring for inflation and the projected incremental discretionary expenditures that might be anticipated by the inclusion of a new world class attraction, the JFK CV-67 Memorial Foundation projects future economic benefit of $350 per overnight cruise passenger by 2010, the Museum’s projected opening date.

White House Photo

President John F. Kennedy - Legacy

The regions of the United States where the legacy of President Kennedy continues to resonate most strongly include New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic and East North Central.  With Overnight Cruise Tourists identified as the target market for the professed justification of visitor projections that would surpass even the hugely successful USS Midway, the following cruise market breakdown serves as the backdrop against which our business plan is developed.

Distribution of U.S. Cruise Passengers by Place of Residence

         4 Regions Comprise The Lowest Hanging Fruit:

Royal Caribbean's Sovereign Of The Seas at the Port Of Miami - Photo by Tom Martin

Competition Among Cruise Embarkation Ports

In the race for Cruise Port Supremacy, Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades would need to capture 373,000 (or 18%) of the passengers directly from Port Of Miami in order to overtake the number one spot in the world (all other things being equal) OR capture 126,000 (or 18%) of the passengers directly from Port Canaveral in order to reclaim the number two position from them (all other things being equal). 

Clearly, the ability to positively influence the port of embarkation choices of cruisers at time-of-research represents significant benefits to the cruise port that best portrays a significant differentiated advantage over its rivals.  The John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum can provide that significant differentiated advantage, for reasons that relate directly to our ability to compel increased overnight stays.  The Online Cruise Research Process, several months prior to the date of departure, is the critical point at which decisions relative to Port Of Embarkation can be profoundly influenced.

Online Communities

Sovereign Of The Seas - Photo by Tom Martin

Picture the best friend you’ve never met.  The potential to meet that person is inherent in the promise of every cruise vacation, and upon reflection, represents the difference between a good cruise and a GREAT CRUISE.  Whereas this prospect was left to fate in earlier times, the Internet has enabled an entirely new approach to the cruise research/booking process – allowing vacationers to select the type of people with whom they wish to travel by getting to know them online first - a priority that frequently trumps itinerary, ship and brand for those who wish to be proactive with their vacation planning.

Literally ALL of the customers required to achieve our projections for additional overnight stays by cruise vacationers reside in the online realm.  The Foundation’s Strategic Marketing Advisor, Tom Martin (President of New Venture Strategies), literally productized the organic process by which individuals were starting their own cruise groups or joining existing ones, as a strategic consultant to then President of Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruise Lines, Jack Williams, back in 2001.  Subsequently emulated and expanded upon by both Cruise Critic and Carnival Cruise Lines, this industry-altering concept has improved the vacation experience for hundreds of thousands of cruisers, enabling new lifelong friendships while promoting repeat group cruise travel on an annual basis, thanks to the bonding that this approach enables.

Photo by Tom Martin

Once these cruisers become loyal to a group, they’re hooked.  Cruise marketers are then free to reallocate marketing dollars that would otherwise have been committed to retaining these customers, and can spend them in the area that will best serve the entire industry - targeting the universe of cruise prospects known as “intenders,” those who have yet to cruise at all.  The “switching cost” for these groups becomes too high for them to bother to change brands on future trips.  In other words, the potential group dislocations likely to result from an attempt to switch brands when planning future group cruises (vs. simply booking new ships or itineraries within the same brand-family) prevent group leaders from bothering to suggest it.  Therefore, brand loyalty becomes the happy consequence of what might be better described as “Group Loyalty.”

According to Martin’s projections, by 2010 at least 30% of passengers aboard a moderately-sized 2,000 passenger cruise ship will belong to groups formed via online means – having “met” online prior to meeting onboard.  Of these 600 people, more than half (350) will be persuaded to arrive the day prior to their cruise departure for the specific purpose of attending a party that evening with their fellow “Shipmates,” hosted aboard Big John.  A typical Friday or Saturday evening aboard the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum might feature six of these groups, effectively extending the “cruise experience” by one day and ensuring that their subsequent cruise vacation will be filled with new friends and familiar faces. 

The viral nature of this concept ensures that not only will groups grow in size via internet-enabled word of mouth, they will also prompt group members to cruise more frequently.  Given the growth trend of these groups to date - from just 35 per cruise in 2002, to upwards of 350 today - we envision the potential for full-ship charters, and a new cruising tradition -  the “JFK Pre-Cruise Party” -  aboard “Big John.”

South Florida Attractions

Only 7.7% of Domestic Visitors and 9.4% of International Visitors listed “ATTRACTIONS” as a “Most Liked Feature” of their Miami visit.  While 27.3% visited Bayside Marketplace adjacent to the proposed location of the John F. Kennedy Maritime Museum in Miami’s FEC Slip, only 2.6% of Domestic Visitors and 4% of International Visitors listed it as a “Most Liked Feature.”

Downtown Miami featuring Bayside Marketplace, American Airlines Arena and the Port of Miami

Attraction		Percent Who Visited
Bayside Marketplace Downtown Miami   Theaters Miami Seaquarium Museums Parrot Jungle		27.3 % 17.6 % 9.3 % 7.2 % 4.1 % 3.4 %

South Florida’s Gold Coast has always relied on its “Beaches” as THE primary attraction.  For all of the reasons articulated herein and more, the time has arrived to place a new and urgent emphasis on developing attractions to provide visitors with alternatives “beyond the beach.”

The JFK CV-67 Memorial Foundation encourages the Convention & Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce leaders of both Miami and Fort Lauderdale to spearhead the development of two separate Hospitality-Centric task forces for the purpose of creating two site-specific feasibility studies representative of each venue opportunity.

The Foundation stands ready to share with each community task force all of the underlying data collected and lessons-learned from our eight-plus months of intensive research and site visits – procured at a cost of over $500,000 to date.  The Foundation will also seek to arrange for a date when the CEO and the CFO of the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum (“Mac” McLaughlin and Rich Benard respectively), can travel to south Florida for the specific purpose of answering any number of questions that community and business leaders may have.  Subsequent to that presentation, The Foundation seeks to schedule a charter flight for key stakeholders from both south Florida communities to travel to San Diego for the purpose of touring the USS Midway and meeting with that city’s tourism and governmental leaders to learn firsthand what the addition of this major new attraction has meant to San Diego’s economy.

The mission of the JFK CV-67 Memorial Foundation is quite simply to “Save The JFK,” regardless of the venue ultimately selected.  In our experience, healthy competition raises the game of all participants.  If it comes to pass that we help to prepare two separate world class proposals for consideration by the Navy Ships Donation Program, we will likely have accomplished our goal - regardless of the venue ultimately selected by the Secretary of the Navy, preserving the legacy of JFK - both the ship and the man, for future generations to enjoy.