Florida Fights Oil Spill Misperception

Three Florida areas currently untouched by oil spill damage are going to great efforts to prove that fact to prospective vacationers and meeting planners in order to stem possible losses in revenue.

These include the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), which has been awarded $1.25 million in emergency marketing funds from Florida Governor Crist and the State Division of Emergency Management to assist in correcting misperceptions among potential visitors about the effects of the Gulf oil spill.

Tourism officials believe that dispelling these perceptions is critical, since tourism is Miami-Dade’s number one industry, employing more than 100,000 people, and representing 1 in 5 jobs in the County. In 2009, nearly 12 million overnight visitors generated more than $107 million in tourist taxes, including 28% of the State sales tax collected in the County. Visitors spent approximately $16.5 billion in lodging, food, shopping and ancillary services and activities.

“We are grateful to Governor Crist for his leadership, and for recognizing that the oil spill is a statewide issue, affecting not only the areas already seeing oil sheen and/or tar balls, but the rest of the State, which suffers from the perception that they are affected, too,” noted GMCVB Chair Steven Haas.

GMCVB president and CEO William D. Talbert, III, added, “Unlike many other parts of the State, nearly 50% of all Miami visitors come from international markets, and so the campaign supported by these funds will be carrying the Florida message internationally, benefiting the entire State.

“This $1.25 million allocation is the amount requested for this stage in the crisis, where we have seen some minor cancellations,” Talbert continued. “However, if the situation worsens, we will renew our original request for an additional $4 million, for a total of $5.25 million.

“Prior to receiving this funding, we had already proactively taken several steps, including launching the www.SeeMiamiLive.com portal, featuring Webcams trained on our beaches to show their pristine cleanliness, and added a dedicated FAQ page to our website to answer questions about the oil spill’s impact on the area,” Talbert concluded.

The funds will be used to expand the reach and frequency of GMCVB’s summer campaign, which emphasizes the range of appeals that make Greater Miami and the Beaches unique.

Fort Myers and Sanibel Running TV Spots

To the west, in order to address consumer misperceptions and reassure visitors that the Gulf oil spill is not affecting the beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel coastline and islands, the destination filmed and aired nine 30-second television spots every day from June 21-25 and June 28-July 1.

This type of innovative advertising campaign, with spots made and aired in one day, is commonly referred to as “FreshTV.” The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel is the first destination to use this type of aggressive national advertising campaign in the face of a crisis. The innovative campaign will help to sustain visitation, protect the area’s tourism economy, and correct misconceptions regarding the spill’s impact on the destination, which remains completely untouched.

“Tourism is the lifeblood of our local economy. We welcome nearly five million visitors each year who contribute $2.6 billion to the local economy, or $82 per second, and account for one in four jobs in Fort Myers,” said Tamara Pigott, executive director of the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau (VCB), which markets the destination internationally for leisure and business travel. “We want visitors to know that our doors are open and our shores are clean. To rise above the noise and reach consumers nationally, we need to take a radical, no-holds-barred approach to have the most impact.”

Kristie Anders, education director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, explained that the chances of oil impacting the destination are slim. That’s because the loop current in the Gulf follows the edge of the West Florida continental shelf, which runs parallel to the state’s coast and extends to about 150 miles off the destination’s shores.

The same-day television campaign is just one component of the destination’s “Still Pristine” integrated marketing program that first launched the week of the spill.

Travelers wishing to visit The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel can find the latest details regarding current conditions on a new web page of the destination’s consumer website called: “The Beaches Now.”

Florida Keys Launches Video Campaign

Finally, the Florida Keys and Key West tourism council has launched a new Web and social media–based feature designed to communicate an accurate status of Keys tourism offerings during the Transocean/BP oil spill crisis.

Each weekend, videographers are to tape visitors enjoying water-related and other vacation offerings in the Keys.

The one-minute-long video is to be edited and posted to the official Keys tourism council’s website at www.fla-keys.com well as social media venues by about 4 p.m. on Mondays. The videos are to be date stamped with no archival footage used in their production.

The debut video is now webcasting at fla-keys.com as the tourism council’s Video of the Week, as well as in a special Gulf oil spill section at fla-keys.com/oilspill. It has also been uploaded to the tourism council’s You Tube channel at: youtube.com/watch?v=LAdM56LP5bY.

“The Keys have received so much news coverage during the past month and many travel consumers mistakenly think our islands are suffering the same horrific and tragic impacts being seen on some northern Gulf coast shorelines,” said tourism council director Harold Wheeler. “We fortunately are not and need to make the travel consumer understand that.”

The tourism council is also adding live webcams throughout the region. The latest is a Webcam installed at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park beach in Key West.