Holiday Tourism is Big Business in St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- There's nothing like some holiday fun to light up tourism in Florida.

When two million lights in downtown St. Augustine turn on for Nights of Lights, cash registers light up too.

John Cunningham is the owner of Ann O'Malley's, an Irish pub in St. Augustine near the fort.

He said, "We start seeing a lot more people coming into town, locals, people coming from Jacksonville and Palatka. And we see a lot of out-of-towners coming in for the weekends which is very nice."

Cunningham said all those little lights double his weekend business.

Just across the temporary Bridge of Lions at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, Winter Wonderland brings in the revenue, too.

There, you can do more than dream of a white Christmas. It really snows there... twice a night. There's also an outdoor ice rink for ice skating, an ice slide, and a children's train through Candy Cane Lane among other things.

St. Johns County oversees Winter Wonderland. Ryan Dettra, who works for the county and helps organize the six-week-event said, "Part of the mission here is to boost the economy and bring visitors from out of town."

The county has expanded its marketing of Winter Wonderland this year into Georgia and central Florida.

Dettra said this year Winter Wonderland is expected to pull in 70,000 people in six weeks. That's 20,000 more people than last year.

As for Nights of Lights, some gift shop owners downtown say, they say people certainly visit, but it doesn't mean they spend money on souvenirs.

Cunningham at the pub said that makes sense.

"Maybe for the shops it doesn't bring in as much business," Cunningham explained, "but for us it brings in business! People hear music, they see people outside enjoying themselves. They come in and have a sandwich and a drink. [Nights of Lights] makes a big difference."

The St. Augustine Visitors and Convention Bureau said there is no accurate way to measure how much money is generated by Nights of Lights. However, bed taxes sharply increase in December and January.

Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 3. Admission is free, but you will want to bring some cash for some of the exhibits and activities.

Nights of Lights gets started Nov. 21. The lights go on at 6:30 p.m. in downtown St. Augustine. Nights of Lights will run to the end of January.

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