Tourism groups work to boost tourism for season after two hurricanes

Peak season is around the corner, and regional tourism organizations are focused on drawing in visitors to local businesses after two hurricanes. 

Hurricanes Helene spared Manatee and Sarasota Counties from direct hits, and Hurricane Milton lost most of its strength before hitting Siesta Key in early October. Still, the damage dealt by both storms left the area — specifically the islands like Longboat Key and Anna Maria — in disarray. 

Visit Sarasota County and the Bradenton Area Visitors and Convention Bureau (BACVB) are ready to assist local businesses with new campaigns, and continue promoting the area in a positive way to galvanize the upcoming tourist season.

Director of Partnership and Community Relations for Visit Sarasota County Hunter Carpenter said the process after hurricanes involves both checking on local businesses and helping draw people into those that are ready to open. 

“Recovery in the hospitality industry locally is a nuanced journey,” Carpenter said. “Because in addition to the damage and debris in the immediate aftermath, we’re also grappling with perception.”

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, a major part of Visit Sarasota County’s job was communicating with local businesses to offer resources and check on their status. This was the same for the BACVB and Executive Director Elliott Falcione. 

“One of the most important areas that we focus on is getting that messaging out in a timely manner,” Falcione said. “But we wanted to make sure that the community was ready for it.”

Part of that messaging for both Visit Sarasota County and the BACVB was to help show the full story of this area. Falcione said images on social media and national news show the area in a tight lens, not zoomed out to show the full picture. 

“We had to take a look at the national media, how they were perceiving our destination from a damage assessment standpoint. It was not as accurate as we would have liked,” Falcione said, adding that some of the BACBV’s ongoing marketing efforts target mis-messaging. 

Photo by Observer Staff

Carpenter shared similar sentiments, stating that Visit Sarasota County is also focused on shedding a positive light on post-hurricane recovery for local businesses. 

“We know that people outside of our community were exposed to videos and images and testimonials about the impacts that both Helene and Milton had on our whole community … and we know that it doesn’t tell the whole story about our destination,” Carpenter said.

While it’s important to show the truth about the damage that both Hurricanes Helene and Milton had on the region, Carpenter said it’s equally important to show the resiliency and to help local businesses move forward. 

Drawing in business

Carpenter and Falcione agreed that Hurricanes Helene and Milton had larger impacts on the barrier islands than on the mainland. The “curb appeal” of the mainland is the lesser issue now, Falcione said. 

Both Visit Sarasota County and the BACVB worked quickly to contact local businesses. Falcione described it as assessing the “pulse” of the hospitality industry on the islands. 

“Staff is constantly communicating with (local businesses) via telephone so we have a pulse of who’s open, who’s about to be open,” Falcione said. 

Falcione's BACVB focuses on the mainland area of Bradenton and the Gulf Islands, like Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key. 

According to Falcione, about two dozen restaurants have re-opened on Anna Maria Island, with about 40-60% of the hospitality businesses ready for business. On Longboat Key, Falcione estimated that number to be higher, about 60-80%. 

Looking ahead at the upcoming winter and peak tourist season, Falcione is hopeful for a return to normalcy. 

“I don’t expect any kind of seasonality shift,” Falcione said. “People are resilient.” 

While Falcione said he has heard of cancellations for this winter, he expects those to be restored by other visitors. 

“It is peak demand time of the year, so those who have canceled, we feel confident that we’ll replace them with other visitors for this winter,” Falcione said.

Carpenter said some local businesses needed assistance for structural damage, which was available through small business loans and disaster recovery assistance organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

“Now that many of our local businesses are opening or planning to be operational in the coming weeks, their main question has been: How can we re-energize our season,” Carpenter said.

Now that businesses are starting to recover and want to ensure a positive tourist season, Carpenter said it was important to launch initiatives like the new “Florida’s West Coast.” 

“What they're more concerned about is the impact on season,” Carpenter said. “And so that’s where these campaigns are coming in to address some of those concerns.”

According to Carpenter, Visit Sarasota County and the BACVB were quick to get on the phone with each other after the storms and work on joint initiatives to promote the region. 

This joining of forces led to the “Florida’s West Coast” campaign which launched on Nov. 1. A $200,000 investment — $100,000 from each organization — will help to promote “hidden gems” of Sarasota and Manatee Counties to different priority markets for the two organizations. 

These priority markets include places like New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Part of the campaign is an increase in social media marketing, which Carpenter said is the main method people rely on to choose destinations. 

“It’s quite a collaborative effort, and we intend to really lean into this campaign through November and December,” Carpenter said.

Courtesy image

Using these marketing strategies, Visit Sarasota County and the BACVB hope to promote a positive perception of the area while businesses recover, which helps to change the perception outsiders have of the region after seeing images of destruction. 

“The idea is, as the world sees the vitality of our region, that battle with perception will start to become easier won,” Carpenter said. 

On top of the “Florida’s West Coast” campaign, Visit Sarasota County decided to turn its existing “Fun in the 941” initiative into “Support the 941.” 

“We thought it was apt to reconfigure this campaign to be Support the 941 and encourage, initially, locals to support locals,” Carpenter said. “In essence, it’s the same deals and events platform that we’ve used for many years, but we’re amplifying it.” 

This was born from a surge of locals calling Visit Sarasota County to ask about ways they could support other local businesses, according to Carpenter. 

With “Fun in the 941,” Visit Sarasota County promotes special offers and deals throughout the Sarasota region. Now with the newly reconfigured “Support the 941,” the initiative is more focused on locals supporting local businesses. 

Carpenter added that local businesses don’t need to be partners of Visit Sarasota County to be involved in the “Support the 941” initiative. Businesses just need to email Visit Sarasota County to get promotions and events added to the calendar. 

For more information on the “Support the 941” campaign, visit the website at visitsarasota.com/support-941.