Winter Blues?

>>The legendary green flash at sunset might not mean extra green for the tourism industry this season. That’s why tourism bureaus have been making a bigger splash to bring visitors to Southwest Florida.

Officials responsible for marketing the region saw signs last year that the normally strong tourist season would suffer because of the recession. Local hotel managers reported that bookings were fewer than normal.

"We started hearing that season might not be what it [once] was," says Jack Wert, executive director of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau surveyed property managers and found that 46 percent expected less business in early 2009, 27 percent hoped for the same amount of business and only 15 percent were seeing more reservations.

The county allocated an additional $750,000 to advertise the destination for season—the first quarter of 2009—something it hasn’t done in the past, says Suya Davenport, executive director of the Lee County VCB. The print and online outreach focused on Midwest and Northeast markets.

In Collier, tourism officials have pulled back on marketing to the Midwest and Northeast to target areas within driving distance. They are emphasizing the area as a destination for weddings, arts and culture beyond the beach, and spent about $1.15 million to attract international visitors. Previously, the CVB had done little marketing overseas, Wert says. Now it has full-time representation in Europe’s German-speaking countries, Great Britain and Ireland to work with tour operators, attend trade shows and train reservations agents on Collier’s behalf. It also has established Web sites in Germany and the United Kingdom.

"We’re very encouraged that the international market is going to help us overcome some of the deficits we’re going to see in travel from the domestic market," Wert says.

Coming with Their Cars