Visit Tampa Bay wins top honors for advocacy

“Henry” video earns a Henry award for Tourism Advocacy

ORLANDO (Sept. 8, 2016) – For the first time in its history, Visit Tampa Bay won Florida’s top award for Tourism Advocacy Wednesday evening at the annual Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism. Visit Tampa Bay also won a silver award in the Internet Advertising category for its integrated digital marketing campaign.

Visit Florida honors the best work by the state’s destination marketing organizations with the Flagler Award, named for Henry Flagler, whose railroad to Key West opened Florida to tourism. The top award in each Flagler category is called the Henry.

Visit Tampa Bay won its first-ever Henry in the category of Tourism Advocacy for its video “Henry Brings Business to Tampa Bay,” an animated short detailing the wide-ranging multimillion-dollar impact convention business has on the Tampa Bay economy. The video was produced by Apple Box Studios.

In addition to Visit Tampa Bay, The Florida Aquarium and Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo also won Flagler Awards. Together, Hillsborough county tourism won nine awards in the 17 Flagler categories.

“This is a tremendous night for Tampa Bay tourism,” said Santiago Corrada, President & CEO of Visit Tampa Bay after the award ceremony at the Hilton Orlando hotel. “It’s a huge honor to be recognized by our colleagues in the tourism industry for the hard work Visit Tampa Bay and our partners have done to promote our region as one of the world’s most diverse and exciting tourism destinations.”

The Florida Aquarium won four Henrys and two silver Flaglers, most of them related to campaigns promoting the aquarium’s 20^th anniversary. Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo won a bronze Flagler for Creativity in Public Relations for promoting the zoo’s baby clouded leopards.

Hillsborough County Flagler Awards:

Visit Tampa Bay: Henry, Tourism Advocacy

Visit Tampa Bay: Silver, Internet Advertising

The Florida Aquarium: Henry, Radio Advertising

The Florida Aquarium: Henry, Social Media Marketing

The Florida Aquarium: Henry, Television Advertising

The Florida Aquarium: Henry, Print Advertising

The Florida Aquarium: Silver, Mixed Media Advertising

The Florida Aquarium: Silver, Niche Marketing

Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo: Bronze, Creativity in Public Relations