AT CAMLS

VISIT TAMPA BAY HOSTS ANNUAL MARKETING SUMMIT 

This dynamic event highlighted valuable insight and featured inspirational storytelling from industry and community leaders. 

Bringing together over one hundred and forty marketers and industry partners from across Tampa Bay, Visit Tampa Bay hosted its eighth annual Marketing Summit at the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. With a mission to educate, and inspire the hospitality industry in Tampa Bay, the event provided valuable insights and featured storytelling from industry and community leaders from disparate walks of life.

Patrick Harrison, Chief Marketing Officer of Visit Tampa Bay, kicked off the summit with an update on how Hillsborough County continues to shine, with the Tourist Development Tax collections and hotel occupancy numbers remaining strong and vital to our local tourism economy.

Introducing the opening guest speaker, Harrison emphasized the importance of culinary tourism before Cara Cornelis, VP Americas Michelin Experiences Division, provided an in-depth look into how the MICHELIN Guide both lifts and impacts a destination – including how their anonymous judges decide who makes the cut into the world’s leading culinary guide.

Beyond the research and heavily developed marketing and advertising campaigns, Harrison then presented a light overview of some of the DMOs out-of-the-box initiatives over the last year. From the development of Visit Tampa Bay’s signature scent, Tampa Bay Sunrise, to the release of a new beer, Captain’s Courage, and even the launch of its very own coffee with local roaster, Blind Tiger, Harrison underlined the depth of thought that goes into developing a brand and growing a destination’s appeal.

Christina Unkel, President of Tampa Bay Sun FC, followed with a captivating speech inspiring the audience to channel their athlete mindset. With the first season of Tampa Bay’s first professional women’s soccer team just a few months away, Unkel outlined how to focus like an athlete and mentally understand the challenges and timing of work and success.  The response and questions underlined audience support to the Tampa Bay Sun and women’s sport.  “See Her Be Her” became a tagline for all the presentations that followed.

Having worked as Visit Tampa Bay’s agency of record for more than six years and with decades of industry knowledge, FKQ Advertising & Marketing representatives, Gina Kline, and Elisa DeBernardo, provided attendees with Visit Tampa Bay’s marketing initiatives and the importance of attribution. Outlining domestic out-of-state and drive market, international, multicultural, Tourism Marketing District, Make It Tampa Bay, business transient, convention, and meetings campaigns and more, their presentation highlighted that we treat every advertising dollar with the utmost respect and demand the highest ROI.

Harrison took the stage again and gave an overview of our international insights.  With the enormous growth in international budgets, new representation (in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and others) plus integrated campaigns with airlines, Brand USA and Visit Florida — the presentation focused on the potential for visitation and growth. 

The final guest speaker of the day was Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner and General Counsel of J.C. Newman Cigar Company, sharing the timeless traditions of the historic cigar company and its home in Ybor City. With the new Cigar Workers Park, growth of the museum and a new hotel on the horizon, Newman added a historic twist that only Ybor City can provide. And discussions included the fact that at IPW, the biggest US-based tourism conference which will take place in Los Angeles next month, the massive Visit Tampa Bay booth will be a reproduction of Newman’s El Reloj cigar factory – the last remaining cigar factory in the entire United States.

President and CEO, Santiago C. Corrada closed proceedings, thanked partners and our DMO partners from Pasco and Pinellas Counties and reiterated that now is the time for full speed ahead and no resting on any laurels.