A three-county tourism soiree on air

What do you get when four dynamic, passionate, ebullient tourism professionals mix it up in the Talkin' Tourism on Florida's Treasure Coast studio? One fantastic show!

History Lady's adoring fans kicked off the show by sending her some happy birthday wishes, and then Radio Man and Robin jumped right into this week’s theme - National Travel and Tourism Week and Tourism 101. Gary gave a rundown of the who, when, what and why of this special industry week that promotes the travel and tourism industry. Tune in to find out which United States President issued the Presidential Proclamation that created this annual week of travel appreciation!

Then it was time for our listeners to learn the ropes of Treasure Coast tourism under the tutelage of three very qualified instructors - St. Lucie County Tourism Development Council coordinator Charlotte Lombard, Mary Jayne Kelly from the Cultural Council of Indian River County, and Rozeta Mahboubi, executive director of the Martin County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Each of our distinguished guests took turns explaining the ins and outs of the tourism industry across the three Treasure Coast counties, including the pros and cons of how Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties go about promoting travel. Some counties operate their tourism promotions through a Convention and Visitors Bureau, others market tourism through a Chamber of Commerce. Listen in to hear what about what makes each county distinct, and what the three Treasure Coast counties have in common to offer to travelers.

On a side note - “Are You a…Culture Vulture” is a great publication produced by the Cultural Council of Indian River County…is it for the birds?

As suspected, each county will be recognizing National Tourism and Travel Week in its own unique way. Radio Man may have offered a suggestion to promote the week, and the girls may have liked what he had to say. Those are all the details you'll get unless you tune in!

And finally, Erica Byfield, president of Comet Creative, helped revisit the Treasure Coast-Bahamas connection in the works in St. Lucie County. Are these folks who are garnering support for the St. Lucie County/Grand Bahama Island Initiative near reaching a plan of action?

As always, a big Talkin' Tourism thanks to our guests for appearing on the show this week to share a wealth of knowledge about our coast's tourism industry.

Tourism 101: CVBs, TDCs and C of Cs

For the first time in the history of Talkin' Tourism on Florida’s Treasure Coast, tourism gurus from Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin Counties will be in the studio at the same time. What a coup! With National Tourism Week coming up quickly (May 8-16), the timing is perfect.

All three ladies have appeared on the show at one time or another in the last year. This week, we reconvene with Martin County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Rozeta Mahboubi, St. Lucie County Tourism Development Council coordinator Charlotte Lombard and Mary Jayne Kelly, executive director of the Cultural Council of Indian River County. With these three lively ladies in the house (and History Lady thrown into the mix), we’ll need two hours on the air!

Let's see what nuggets of knowledge these tourism leaders can unearth about their multi-county collaboration plans and goals. Our three Treasure Coast experts will also discuss how their strategies for bringing in tourism have to be tailored specifically for their counties.

Has anything yet come from the St. Lucie County/Grand Bahama Island initiative? Comet Creative advertising and marketing master George Byfield may bring you up to date on that as well.

Another installment of Talkin' Tourism is on the way, this Friday at 10 a.m. Tune into WPSL AM 1590, or http://www.wpsl.com/ for all the witty banter and tourism tidbits you can handle!

Photo from StuartFla.com

Stuart Single Fin Showdown and St. Lucie Tourism Feb 20 Show Recap

Listeners of the Feb 20 Talkin' Tourism radio show, now know how surfing brought the show's host, Gary Guertin, to Stuart. The United Way of Martin County's first ever surfing contest--Stuart Single Fin Showdown--slated March 14 and 15 at Stuart Beach, is expected to attract several hundred surfing fans to the area.

Justin Beard, communications director of the United Way, host Gary Guertin and co-host Robin Hicks-Connors touch on the fact that the sport of surfing does have an impact on tourism.

For those listeners who might want to participate in the contest but don't have a board--no problem! Authentic 70s singlefin will be provided to all surfers who enter the competition, and to make it more challenging, those who advance into later rounds will have to ride a different singlefin during each heat. For more information on the surfing contest, click HERE.

Justin promises this is going to be a fun contest where surfers who normally rip on their modern tri-fin shortboard will have to adjust to surfing with a totally different style. Show host Gary Guertin has signed up to be a judge for the inaugural contest.

The second half of the show explores St. Lucie county tourism programs and funding. Charlotte Lombard, Tourism Development Manager for St. Lucie County, who by the way is an avid surfer, profiles where the county's 5% bed tax goes: first 3-cents goes to the Tradition Station operations; the second 1-cent goes to marketing; and the third 1-cent is divided 33.5% to tourism related capital projects, with the remaining 66.5% going to Tradition Stadium bonds.

George Byfield the CEO/Creative Director of Comet Creative, Inc., the advertising agency of record for St. Lucie County tourism programs, talks about his vision to create a "new" destination package to sell that brings tourists to both St. Lucie County and Grand Bahama. Officials have been speaking with Spirit Airlines and other air carriers to connect St. Lucie County International Airport to Grand Bahama, but no agreements are in place yet.

Expected call-in guest James Turner, Executive Vice-President of the Grand Bahama Tourism Promotion Board, wasn't able to join the group, but is expected to join a Grand Bahama delegation coming to St. Lucie County March 4 through March 7.

When the audio clip from Feb 20 show is available, it'll be posted here.