January 2023 Industry Newsletter - Notes from the CEO

Dear Tourism Partner,

What a year 2022 was!  We are happy to turn the page and hope everyone has a better year.

We are excited to share with you some projects we are working on for 2023:

1. We are in final proofing mode for our Annual Destination Visitor Guide. (Last chance to place your ad!) We have seen a paper shortage and price increases occur during the past year and therefore ordered our FSC® paper earlier to ensure we had stock to work with.The Destination Guide has updated stories, listings and our area attractions.  These guides are used as our primary collateral for visitors, residents and direct sales activities.  You will also find these guides in all four of the Florida Welcome Centers: I-75, I-95, I-10 and the Florida Capitol.
2. The Destination Master Plan, which will conclude in April:  Thank you for all of your input in developing our Destination Master Plan. Our Visioning Session in December garnered valuable input and our Validation Session in January continued the conversation into elements of the final plan.The steering committee has provided unique insights and we thank all for them for their time and dedication. The goal of the master plan is to align the visitor economy with cities, county and regional visions so everyone is moving forward in unison.
3. Mobile Application in upgrade mode:  Our mobile App. has recently been upgraded to the latest versions of Apple and Google protocols, and we are enhancing other aspects of the App. as well.  We have new functionality and gamification to roll out with updates. This is a native application so once downloaded, updates occur in real-time, allowing our visitors, residents and travel agents to have the area information available 24/7/365!
4. National Travel & Tourism Week - 5.7.23 - 5.15.23:  Please Save the Date! May 9, 2023, for our annual National Travel and Tourism Week Celebration! This will be held at the Brannon Center from 8:30am to 10:30am and a continental breakfast will be served. This is no cost to you, so please join us and learn more about the industry from keynote speakers, our year in review, and the Destination Master Plan.
5. Travel Writers: We have been busy hosting journalist in the the destination. Travel Media Meetup (TMM) was hosted here in November after Ian and proved invaluable to show many businesses were still opened. In December, we hosted three United Kingdom writers, a joint venture with Aer Lingus who paid the airfare. We know how important our international friends are to diversifying our visitors and seasonality.  We also hosted Andy Mossack who did a live broadcast on BBC, to his U.K. audience,  from the Night Swan Intracoastal Bed and Breakfast.

With two hurricanes, it is no surprise that our tourism tax collections are down 18% YTD.  We are marketing and doing everything possible to keep visitors coming to our beautiful area.

We look forward sharing many more updates in the future newsletters. 
 

Tourism Touches You