Visit Pensacola is about half way through a three-month, half a million-dollar national ad campaign touting Pensacola Beach as the “Best Beach in the U.S.”, and organizers say the campaign is already exceeding expectations.
Escambia County’s Tourist Development Council held a special meeting to review the campaign’s performance so far and consider Visit Pensacola’s funding request for an additional $250,000 to continue the initiative.
Visit Pensacola’s total $500,000 request for the campaign is above and beyond the organization’s usual spending on a national ad campaign, but it was in response to the unexpected recognition from Condé Nast, which was announced in December 2025.
Escambia County’s Tourist Development Council (TDC) board initially approved $250,000 for the campaign but wanted to see results before agreeing to fund the remaining $250,000.
Visit Pensacola presented those results during the TDC special board meeting on April 28, and after seeing the data the board greenlighted the full amount.
“I am hesitant to approve something without having all the facts,” said TDC board member Charles Bare. “With all the facts in hand, my hat’s off to Visit Pensacola and all the effort that they’re putting forth towards this.”
Visit Pensacola launched the national campaign in March to capitalize on receiving the Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice recognition of Pensacola Beach as the #1 U.S. Beach.
The ranking was determined by more than 757,000 readers globally, and it highlighted Pensacola Beach’s unique sugar-white sand and turquoise waters, as well as the city’s vibrant arts and culture scene.
During the TDC board meeting, Visit Pensacola CEO Darien Schaefer presented the results of the campaign from March.
Schaefer told the board the results are tracking ahead of expectations across nearly every metric and there is a solid return on ad spending generated by bookings.
“The return on ad spend of $24.54 is substantial,” Schaefer said, referring to $24.54 spent by visitors for every dollar spent on advertising. “In all of our metrics we’re exceeding our expectations in both our paid social and our display, our online video that was distributed.”
He said the campaign included paid social, digital display, online video and TV spots.
Visit Pensacola shared results reported from people who saw campaign digital advertising on their phone, tablet or computer, and then booked a hotel night or flight through a trackable source during March.
This campaign performance data listed does not represent all room nights or flights:
March 2026 Best Beach Campaign Performance:
According to Visit Pensacola, they also targeted 2.7 million Meta impressions and have delivered 2.6 million.
Their data showed audiences were widely watching most of the video ads and often responding.
“I have half a desire to hide all this and protect Pensacola beach for ourselves,” Pensacola City Councilwoman and board member Jennifer Brahier joked.
The board was impressed with Visit Pensacola’s results and at the end of the 15-minute meeting approved the additional funding request.
“I believe that’s the fastest we have ever spent $250,000,” board member Jim Reeves said. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
“I’m really excited about this award, and we appreciate you guys continuing to market it,” Escambia Commissioner and board member Ashlee Hofberger said.
Spending ad plan for additional $250,000
Visit Pensacola also provided information to the board on plans for the next half of the ad campaign.
The organization wants to capitalize on the new national recognition with both current and prospective audiences to strengthen awareness and inspire travel to Pensacola.
They are especially targeting audiences in Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas—two markets that Visit Pensacola says are first and third for hotel revenue and are among the area’s top origin markets.
Visit Pensacola says the demographics of these top-performing markets also closely mirror the Condé Nast readership, an affluent, experience-driven demographic that makes travel a regular part of their lifestyle.
The money will be spent on Condé Nast direct media buys, utilizing emails, social media amplification and generation, as well as print, video and digital ads with various outlets including streaming services.
“I look at these numbers a lot in many different industries, and 84% video completion rate is really the highest number I’ve ever seen,” said TDC Chair Jason Nicholson. “That means that 84% of all the 4.7 million that viewed these videos watched it to completion. That’s an excellent number, and certainly puts Escambia County and Pensacola on the map.”
Schaefer says Visit Pensacola will continue tracking engagement data and results of the spending.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Visit Pensacola aims $500K ‘Best Beach’ ads at ‘affluent’ travelers
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
