NEW CAMPAIGN

VISIT TAMPA BAY CROWNS TEAM GERMANY CHAMPIONS OF INAUGURAL ROOSTER CUP

International media professionals and travel trade representatives competed in three-day, city-wide challenge showcasing Tampa Bay as a world-class destination

Tampa, FL (June 18, 2026) — Turning traditional media familiarization trips and trade site visits on their heads, Visit Tampa Bay crowned Team Germany the winner of the inaugural Rooster Cup, a first-of-its-kind, three-day competition that brought twelve international media professionals and travel trade representatives from six countries to Hillsborough County for an immersive, reality-show-style contest June 8-10.

Conceived as a creative new approach and gamification of destination marketing, the Rooster Cup challenged six two-person teams representing Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (all six countries where Visit Tampa Bay utilizes in-market representatives) to compete across a series of scavenger hunts, trivia contests, and skill-based challenges staged throughout Tampa Bay's most iconic neighborhoods and attractions. Each team paired one leisure travel trade representative with one media professional from their respective country. Team Germany, representing the German-speaking markets of Germany and Switzerland and comprised of Tina Wohlgemuth of CRD Touristik (Germany) and Edon Morina of Travelnews.ch (Switzerland), claimed the inaugural Rooster Cup trophy, named in honor of Ybor City's famous resident roosters.

"The Rooster Cup gave us an entirely new way to put Tampa Bay's personality on display for the world," said Santiago C. Corrada, President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay. "Rather than simply telling our international partners about everything our destination offers, we challenged them to experience it firsthand, competitively, and have fun doing it. We have found that our industry is naturally competitive and that really showed over three days of exciting action."

“I really want to congratulate not only the partners but the Visit Tampa Bay team,” added Carlo F. Bond of Price Travel, one of the participants from Team Mexico. “For us professionals, we’re constantly traveling and going on FAM trips and visiting all of these destinations, and sometimes it gets kind of routine. This experience was completely the opposite of that. The competition made us engaged and allowed us to really know the destination.”

In 2025, Visit Tampa Bay hosted 49 FAMs for domestic and international media, contributing to nearly 1,100 articles about Tampa Bay and its partners. On the trade side, Global Leisure Sales hosted an additional 255 FAM participants from 10 source markets, welcoming both product managers from key tour operators looking to grow Tampa Bay's portfolio of hotels and attractions and top-performing travel advisors earning incentive trips. Combining both legacy and growth international markets, Visit Tampa Bay engaged influential media and trade partners through hands-on, story-driven experiences to further strengthen Tampa Bay’s global position.

“I’ve done other FAM trips. I organize FAM trips. But this one is so special,” said Team Netherlands participant Maria Ariens of Travmedia.NL. “I have a completely different view of Tampa Bay now, and I’d really like to write an article about it.”

Added Corrada, “The appreciation and encouragement from our partners was heartfelt and welcome. From Hotel Haya and the famous Columbia Restaurant Flamenco dancers to Tampa Bay Tours, JC Newman, Urban Kai, Busch Gardens® Tampa Bay, Yuengling Brew Haus and even our professional sports team mascots, everyone said yes to the idea and jumped in to help.  That’s the definition of Team Tampa Bay.”