Jacksonville Accolades

Jacksonville International Airport was listed as one of the best airports in North America when it comes to customer service. JIA was tied for first with two other airports in the Airport Service Quality Award by the Airports Council International.

Expedia Viewfinder Travel Blog ranked Jacksonville as one of the 21 Super Cool US Cities. Jacksonville came in the #21 spot.

DK Eyewitness Travel named Jacksonville one of 20 of America’s Most Underrated Towns. Jacksonville took the #6 spot. The must-see highlights: The beach, the historic neighborhoods, the Cummer Museum, our food scene, and the Jazz Fest. [Link]

9 Jacksonville restaurants received Golden Spoon Awards by the Florida trend Magazine. Including Azurea, 13 Gypsies, Black sheep and Taverna. [Link]

Tripadvisor users selected Jacksonville as one of the Top Emerging Destinations in the U.S. Jacksonville was chosen as the #10 Destination.

The Meetings Magazine, publisher of several top meetings industry magazines, awarded Visit Jacksonville with the 2016 Distinctive Achievement Award. The important award is given to CVBs who magazine subscribers say were most helpful in assisting and servicing them in the past year.

Smart Meetings, leading magazine for the meetings industry, named Jacksonville as a Smart Meetings 2016 Platinum Choice Award winner. The recognition, awarded by votes from readers, industry pros, and the editorial team, is given to premier CVBs, hotels and venues for excellence in prestigious categories valued by meeting professionals.

Convention South, a leading meeting planning media group, honored Visit Jacksonville with a 2016 Best Meetings Sites in the South Readers’ Choice Award. More than 18,000 meeting professionals voted for the award. This is the third time Visit Jacksonville has received the prestigious award from Convention South.

Forbes featured Jacksonville as one of “The 20 Best Cities For Travel This Summer.” [Link]

Travelocity has ranked Jacksonville as the #8 Best Summer Vacation Destination for 2016.

Spoon University placed Jacksonville 9th on its list of “Where to Find the Best Chicken and Waffles in America.” [Link]

Coming in at 48th, Jacksonville was again ranked in the top 50 meeting destinations in the U.S. this year by Cvent. [Link]

Forbes Travel Guide named Jacksonville as one of the “5 Surprising Foodie Cities to Visit Right Now”. [Link]

Realtor.com named Jacksonville as one of “The New Hot Spots Where Americans Are Moving Right Now.” [Link]

Jacksonville came in at 16 on Business Insider’s list of “24 Best Places to live in the South – the region that’s becoming the best place to live in America” [Link]

On Business Insider’s list of “The Top 50 best places to live in America” Jacksonville was ranked 34th. [Link]

Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) placed second in the "Best Airport by Region: North America Category" in the Airports Council International (ACI) 2015 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards. [Link]

Forbes Travel Guide awarded One Ocean Resort as a Four Star Hotel, Four Star Spa and Recommended Restaurant for Azurea. The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club also received four stars for both their hotel and spa. [Link]

Jacksonville was ranked among the top cities and regions in the world for fostering successful startup businesses in a study by the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. [Link]

PETA named Jacksonville’s Sun-Ray Cinema the Best Vegan-Friendly Movie Theater in the Country. [Link]

The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront came in 5th place on Smart Meeting’s list of the 17 Top Renovated Hotels and Resorts. [Link]

The Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens received the Quarter Century Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) for maintaining continuous accreditation for 25 years or more.

Florida Theatre Ranks #50 For Worldwide Tickets Sold – Pollstar magazine

Jacksonville International Airport is considered one of the best in the country — ranked in the top five for airports of its size, according to a new study from J.D. Power and Associates. [Link]

Jacksonville was rated a best New Year's Eve destination for your budget by WalletHub. [Link]

Jacksonville was rated one of the 99 Best Cities for Beer by Livability.com

Twelve Jacksonville area restaurants received accolades from Florida Trend’s annual Golden Spoon Awards. The list includes: Azurea, Blue Bamboo, Restaurant Orsay, Taverna, Black Sheep, Eleven South, Palm Valley Fish Camp, Goozlepipe & Guttyworks at Kickbacks, The Candy Apple Café & Cocktails, Bistro AIX, Matthew’s, Marker 32. Putting Jacksonville third, just behind Miami and Miami Beach, for the most awards in the state. [Link]

WalletHub chose Jacksonville as one of their Top 37 Warm Winter Destinations. Jacksonville was #23 and the 4th Florida destination on the list. [Link]

Huffington Post named Jacksonville the Top Secretly Cool City Where You Can Still Get in on the Ground Floor. [Link]

TacoLu came in 33rd on Business Insider’s list of the 50 Best Tacos in America. [Link]

The Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens won two awards for its exhibit, Land of the Tiger, from the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) including the Landscape Award of Excellence for a New Public/Institutional Installation and the FNGLA Floriculture Award which is given to the entry that showcases the most effective use of plant material creating color and texture.

Following a record number of events and ticket sales for the first half of 2015 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Venues Today magazine ranked the Jacksonville’s venue first in the United States in both attendance and gross ticket sales of venues with 10,001-15,000 seats. Additionally, the ranking places the arena third in the world by attendance and sixth in the world by ticket sales gross in the same size category.

Jacksonville is now one of Cvent’s Top 50 Meetings Destinations in the U.S., moving up 8 spots from last year’s ranking to #47. [Link]

TripAdvisor has named the Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens as one of the Top 25 Zoos in the United States. – TripAdvisor [Link]

CIO Magazine includes Jacksonville among the Top Effective, Innovative Users of IT. Jacksonville is one of only three local governments to win 2015 CIO 100 Award. – CIO Magazine

The Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens has been recognized as a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame winner. The ‘Hall of Fame’ was created to honor those businesses that have earned a Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years. – TripAdvisor [Link]

Users of the Foursquare app have rated Jacksonville ice cream shop The Dreamette as the best in Florida. – Foursquare [Link]

Olympian and world-renown distance runner Jeff Galloway lists The Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer /26.2 with Donna /13.1 with Donna Half Marathon as one of the Top Six Most Scenic Races in America in his new book America’s Best Places to Run.

Jacksonville was rated the second Most Affordable Vacation City in the U.S. by gobankingrates.com [Link]

The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville ranked in the Top 25 Best Ballparks in the Minors. – Baseball America

Jacksonville was found to be the “gayest” city in Florida (with the highest LGBT population in the state) – New York Times [Link]

According to Livability.com, Jacksonville’s Dog Wood Park is one of “The 5 Most Woof-Worthy Dog Parks in America” – Livability.com

CouponsDaily pronounced Jacksonville the 3rd Cheapest Spring Break Destination – CouponsDaily

Jacksonville ranked No. 1 among U.S. Cities Where Hispanics Are Doing The Best Economically – Forbes [Link]

Jacksonville's Kickbacks, Grassroots make RateBeer.com's "Best Awards" list for 2014. In the beer retailer rankings, Kickbacks Gastropub/Goozlepipe & Guttyworks was named best Florida restaurant, and Grassroots Natural Market was named best grocery store in the state. – RateBeer.com

Jax Beach makes the list of Florida's Top 15 Beaches – Thrillist

Atlantic Beach named in Travel Channel's Top 10 Best Florida Beaches

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority announced that Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) ranked Third in the Best Airport by Region: North America category of the Airports Council International's (ACI's) 2014 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards.

Bold Bean Coffee Roasters named one of the Top 24 U.S. Coffee Shops to Visit Before You Die by BuzzFeed. [Link]

Pollstar ranked the Florida Theatre among the Top 100 most attended theatres worldwide for 2014. – Pollstar Magazine [Link]

Jacksonville ranked 41 in the Top 50 Best Cities in America for 2014 – MOVOTO

The Alhambra was named one of Jacksonville's Top 10 Romantic Things to Do by USA Today. [Link]

Jacksonville fourth-best in state for young job seekers according to Nerdwallet.com [Link]

Jacksonville restaurant Moxie Kitchen + Cocktails named one of the best new restaurants in Florida by Florida Trend. [Link]

BREW Five Points named one of the best new coffee shops in America. – Thrillist [Link]

One Spark Named Top 300 Festival in the World by Fest300 Magazine.

Jacksonville Among Top 50 Best Cities In America For 2014 – Movoto

The Atlantic Beach Country Club ranked 25 out of 36 on Golf Digest list of best new golf courses. – Golf Digest [Link]

Jacksonville Ranks 3rd Among Top Digital Cities (2nd year in a row) - Center for Digital Government

Jacksonville’s Dos Gatos and St. Augustine’s Ice Plant Bar named among “Florida’s 14 Best Bars Outside of Miami” – Thrillist [Link]

Jacksonville is the 24th best city on “2014′s Best & Worst Cities for Winter Holiday Travel” – WalletHub

Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena sets annual attendance record, the arena is set to draw over 550,000 people before year end.

Jacksonville was voted “Best City for Culture” for meetings and conventions. – ConventionSouth

Jacksonville No. 4 in the “South’s Top 10 Music Cities for Meetings & Events.” – Convention South [Link]

Jacksonville is the 6th most generous of largest U.S. cities – Chronicle of Philanthropy

Time Magazine’s “Best Places to Live 2014” ranked Jacksonville 8th in “Best Big-City Bargains” – Time

Jacksonville’s Dog Wood Park named 10th best dog park in the US - Destinations Travel Magazine

Business Insider ranked Jacksonville the 11th best city for culture in the US. “The 20 Best US Cities For Culture” – Business Insider [Link]

Jacksonville is ranked the 5th most American city on “2014’s Metro Areas that Most and Least Resemble the U.S.” – WalletHub [Link]

The Daily Beast ranked Jacksonville Beach No. 13 on their list of “The Most Popular U.S. Beaches”- The Daily Beast [Link]

PropertyShark.com ranked Jacksonville No. 11 on their list of “Top 20 U.S. Cities for Culture” – PropertyShark.com [Link]

PsyBlog’s Survey of the Unhappiest and Happiest U.S. Cities revealed Jacksonville to be the 7th happiest metropolitan area (with populations over 1 million). “The Unhappiest and Happiest U.S. Cities Revealed By Nationwide Survey” – PsyBlog [Link]

Jacksonville is ranked 11th of “Best Urban Places to Retire” – nerdwallet

Jacksonville is ranked No. 20 on the “2014 Best & Worst Cities for Summer Travel"- WalletHub [Link]

Forbes listed Jacksonville as the No. 4 city for jobs- Forbes

Destination Seeker ranked Jacksonville No. 3 on their list of “15 Best Places to Live in Florida”- Destination Seeker

Jacksonville is ranked No. 9 in Forbes’ “Cities Gaining the Most College Graduates”- Forbes [Link]

Jacksonville is ranked as the top city to start a business in 2014- WalletHub [Link]

Jacksonville is the only city in the US with two Proton Therapy facilities

Jacksonville’s Sandalwood High School won the Coca-Cola Company Waiters Relay Competition in the ProStart Culinary Team Competition

Two of Jacksonville’s breweries, Engine 15 and Intuition Aleworks, made Draft Magazine’s list of “Around Florida in 11 beers” – Draft Magazine

Olio in Downtown Jacksonville is one of the Best Places for Foodies in Florida- CheapFlights.com UK [Link]

Jacksonville is No. 9 in the Top 10 Super Bowl Viewing Markets- ESPN.com

Jacksonville is ranked as the second best city for saving money in America- Go Banking Rates

Dos Gatos in Downtown Jacksonville is one of the Top 100 Bars in the South- Southern Living Magazine

The Florida Theater in Downtown Jacksonville is one of the Best 100 Theaters in the world- PollStar 2013 [Link]

Jacksonville is No. 6 in the Top 10 Best Cities in Florida list- Movoto.com [Link]

Jacksonville Beach makes list of Top 10 Most Exciting Suburbs in America- Movoto.com

Jacksonville is the Most Digitally Dependent city in the nation – IDC, Intel.com

Jacksonville is No. 37 among Best Cities for Saving Account Rates- GOBankingRates [Link]

Matthews’s Restaurant, One Ocean and Azurea make it into the AAA Diamond ranking [Link]

Jacksonville is 7th Most Popular City for the Holidays – Sperling’s Best Places [Link]

Jacksonville ranked 19th Most Energetic City – Sperling’s Best Places [Link]

Jacksonville is the 21st best baseball city – Sperling’s Best Places

Ranked #35 America's Most Playful Cities – Sperling’s Best Places [Link]

Jacksonville is in the Top 25 Best Places to Retire 2013: Fast fact: Named for Andrew Jackson. Pros: Low cost of living, median home price $132,000, no state income tax, agreeable climate, above average air quality, high level of volunteerism. Cons: Crime.

Ranked in Top 10 Best Cities for Finding Employment Right Now, Forbes 2013: Overall Unemployment: 6.5% (March 2013) Top Industries Hiring: IT, Education, Healthcare. Skills/Jobs in Demand: Administrative, Call Center, Food Service/Hospitality

Ranked in the Innovation Cities Global Index 2012-2013 from 2thinknow.

A ranking of 50 major metropolitan cities by Walk Score, a website created to promote walkable neighborhoods, places Jacksonville 50th in its walkability, with a score of 32.6. Scores were based on the following criteria: A main street or public space where people can gather, a strong enough population to sustain local businesses, affordable housing near businesses, parks and public places that are abundant and flourish and public transportation.