TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hillsborough, Pinellas Link Up To Pursue South American Tourists

ADVERTISEMENT

By TED JACKOVICS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 6, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - The two tourism bureaus on either side of Tampa Bay are not historically known for working hand in hand to recruit visitors, but the pair are planning to team up in two South American countries.

Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, the Pinellas tourism marketing group, agreed at its annual budget planning session Monday to allocate $90,000 to join with Hillsborough County's Tampa Bay & Co. to operate offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Pinellas Tourist Development Council is scheduled to review the plan and other elements of Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater's $31.6 million proposed budget for fiscal 2008-09 on May 14, before submitting it to the board of county commissioners.

The budget drawn from the county's 5 percent tax on hotel and motel bills includes myriad items beyond direct tourism advertising, including $5.9 million for debt service for Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and ballparks in Clearwater and Dunedin, and $2.3 million for beach re-nourishment.

Pinellas also is obligated to pay $750,000 to the Super Bowl organizing committee hosting the 2009 game in Tampa, compared with the $1 million that Hillsborough will contribute.

Although money for the joint effort in Brazil and Argentina would be a tiny portion of Pinellas' tourism marketing budget, the cooperative effort is indicative of the county's increasing reliance on partnerships with groups worldwide to leverage marketing efforts in today's volatile economy.

"We want to be better focused," said DT Minich, Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater's executive director. "There is a lot of potential in Brazil and Argentina. There's a lot of potential in Europe."

The visitors bureaus from Hillsborough and Pinellas share marketing offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., and Hillsborough has contracts with representatives in Argentina and Brazil.

The Hillsborough tourism budget process for next fiscal year will begin in June.

"As long as we have the money, we will invest in the South American market," said Steve Hayes, executive vice president of Tampa Bay & Co.

Hillsborough has about $1.8 million to invest annually in advertising and media buys. Although the figures are not directly comparable, Pinellas is able to invest far more in advertising, about $9.7 million this year, a difference that in the past has limited opportunities for joint efforts.

Pinellas discontinued a minor marketing effort in South America following the worldwide travel slump after Sept. 11. The county drew about 26,000, or 1.7 percent, of its 5.3 million overnight visitors in 2007 from Latin American markets.

To some visitors, the two counties are known for being distinctive markets: Pinellas for its beaches and Hillsborough for Busch Gardens and the Tampa Convention Center. Others seem not to differentiate between opportunities on both sides of the Bay, and those are the segments the joint Argentine and Brazilian efforts would target.

"We are interested in the families who travel together from South America," Minich said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics @tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT