Invest: Tampa Bay 2021

Page 175

TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE INTERVIEW

New focus The unprecedented shutdown during the pandemic has forced a rethink of business models and messenging

Steve Hayes President & CEO – Visit St. Pete Clearwater What were your major 2020 takeaways? Our communities here in Pinellas have weathered many different crises over the years. The travel industry had never seen a complete shutdown such as this. For us, it meant rethinking the model at its core, even the messaging. The great part about our destination that helped us is the vast number of outdoor activities we offer, with the beaches at the very top, walking and biking trails, and water trails. This area has fared so much better than other places. It boiled down to adapting and finding ways to do things differently. We relied more on technology than ever before, creating a video campaign on how to experience our destination and what we offer. Prior to the pandemic, we had never done a webinar. We looked at ways to get more creative in reaching out to people and with the content that we were putting out there. The last thing you want to do is be insensitive to what folks are going through, whether they are in Tampa, Orlando or Chicago. We were using research to judge when we needed to be back in the marketplace with a visitation message. The other aspect to that is how could we message our visitor that we were creating a safe place to visit, while in parallel letting locals know that we were making visitors aware of what the expectation is in terms of safety protocols. We got great leadership here in the county that insisted on the importance of following CDC guidelines. What steps are being taken to prepare the region for pent-up travel demand? First and foremost, we will continue with targeted messaging while being able to accommodate the demand as well. That approach will continue to be critical even after we recover. What you do not want to do is have overcrowded areas due to this pent-up demand. It would be detrimental to the effort of creating the best experience.

What are the main priorities for Visit St. Pete Clearwater in the near term? Our major priority is our strategic plan, setting the course to where we want to be toward 2026 and how we want to shape the industry in that timespan. We’re talking to business and community leaders, elected officials and tourism stakeholders to set that stage. Another major focus will be content development and finding the best ways to create content that tells the stories and the experiences that we offer. We’ve always talked about the beaches but now we want to raise awareness of our arts and culture environment and our other outdoor options. We will also be looking forward to working more with our community partners. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com

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Market voices: Tampa Bay hotels

3min
pages 176-177

Interview: Joe Collier, President

3min
pages 178-180

Perspectives: Growth outlook

2min
page 174

Interview: Steve Hayes

2min
page 175

Interview: Benjamin Tran

9min
pages 171-173

Interview: Jackie Mangar

7min
pages 168-170

Interview: Santiago Corrada

2min
page 167

Eye on the future: Tampa Bay

2min
page 166

Interview: Frank Ghannadian

3min
page 159

Interview: Angela Falconetti

4min
pages 160-161

Perspective: Lessons learned

2min
page 156

Perspective: Teacher burnout

2min
page 157

Roundtable: The future of

5min
pages 154-155

Perspective: Growth strategy

3min
page 153

Interview: Anne Kerr, President

5min
pages 150-152

Interview: Shane Donaldson

5min
pages 144-147

Interview: Steven Currall

2min
page 149

Altered landscape: Education in

1min
page 148

Interview: Nathan Walcker

5min
pages 141-143

Interview: Al Hernandez, Public

5min
pages 139-140

Perspectives: Innovation

5min
pages 137-138

Interview: John Couris

2min
page 136

Interview: Ravi Chari

3min
page 134

Interview: Dr. Patrick Hwu

2min
page 133

Perspectives: Wealth

8min
pages 127-131

Interview: Sean Simpson

2min
page 126

Interview: Brooke Mirenda

5min
pages 122-124

Market voices: Banking outlook

2min
page 125

Market voices: Financial

4min
pages 120-121

Interview: Bill Habermeyer

6min
pages 116-118

Interview: Paul Anderson

7min
pages 105-109

Interview: Rita Lowman

2min
page 119

Interview: Jim Daly, Regional

2min
page 111

Roundtable: Community banks

6min
pages 114-115

Interview: Karl Kaliebe

4min
pages 103-104

Interview: Damon Moorer

4min
pages 112-113

Financial magnet: Strong

1min
page 110

Interview: Brad Miller, CEO

2min
page 98

Interview: Thomas Jewsbury

9min
pages 99-102

Interview: Joe Lopano, CEO

2min
page 97

Interview: Tyler Kovarik, Vice

8min
pages 90-93

Interview: T. J. Szelistowski

2min
pages 94-95

Conundrum: Mass transit

1min
page 96

Interview: Fred Lay, President

2min
page 89

Roundtable: Powering the

5min
pages 86-88

Interview: Mark Metheny

3min
pages 84-85

Interview: James Fox,President

3min
page 82

Roundtable: An atypical year

9min
pages 78-81

Perspectives: Outlook

2min
page 77

Interview: Brian Diehl, Regional

3min
pages 75-76

Keeping up: Residential and

2min
page 74

Roundtable: Commercial real

9min
pages 70-73

Interview: Brian Andrus, Broker

2min
page 69

Market voices: Developing for

7min
pages 66-68

Interview: Bowen Arnold

10min
pages 63-65

Interview: John Carey

6min
pages 60-62

Resilient: Tampa Bay’s live, work

2min
page 58

Interview: Andrew Wright, CEO

2min
page 59

Market voices: Adapting

5min
pages 54-55

Interview: V. Raymond Ferrara

4min
pages 56-57

Interview: Natalie King, Vice

4min
pages 52-53

Interview: Joel Stevens, Senior

2min
page 49

Roundtable: Legal landscape

6min
pages 50-51

Perspectives: Professional

2min
page 48

Interview: David Simmons

3min
page 44

Interview: Hala Sandridge

2min
page 41

Market voices: Legal focus

8min
pages 45-47

Pivotal role: The region’s

2min
page 40

Interview: Greg Kadet

4min
pages 42-43

Interview: Denise Sanderson

5min
pages 36-39

Market voices: Economic

3min
pages 34-35

Roundtable: County officials

5min
pages 32-33

Interview: Jerome Ryans

2min
page 31

Interview: Sean Malott

3min
pages 24-25

Market voices: City growth

6min
pages 28-30

Interview: Carole Post

4min
pages 15-16

Roundtable: Future of the Bay

5min
pages 22-23

Interview: J. P. DuBuque

2min
page 17

Interview: Chuck Sykes

5min
pages 26-27

Interview: Ana Cruz, Managing

7min
pages 18-21

Diverse landscape: Tourism

2min
page 14
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