The Official Pensacola Bay Area Tourism Partner E-Newsletter

VISIT FLORIDA Road Show

Pensacola Civic Center Tuesday, June 10 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Discover the many sales and marketing opportunities VISIT FLORIDA has to offer and how to enhance your tourism marketing. Reserve your seat today at www.VISITFLORIDA.org/pensacola

Hospitality Roundtable Announces Shining Light Award Winners

Lori Coppels		Tom Rasinen on behalf of Julian MacQueen

Lori Coppels, group sales manager of the CVB and Julian MacQueen, CEO of Innisfree Hotels, Inc., received top honors at the HRT annual awards luncheon.
Coppels received the Hospitality Veteran award for her dedication to the tourism industry. She has worked at the Pensacola Bay Area CVB for more than 17 years, bringing visitors, groups, tour operators and meeting planners to our area. MacQueen received the Spirit of Tourism award for his vision in shaping the community into a world-class destination. MacQueen has made a tremendous impact on the community by helping to rebuild Pensacola Beach after Hurricane Ivan. He is also attracting first-class corporations to the Pensacola Bay Area through his Innisfree Jet Center.

Summer Photo Contest

The CVB summer photo contest is off to a great start, with strong visitor participation from as far away as Canada. Special thanks to our sponsors, Portofino Island Resort & Spa, Farmer’s Opry House, Historic Pensacola Village, Suburban Lodge, J.W. Renfroe Pecans, MBT Divers, National Naval Aviation Museum and the ZOO Northwest Florida.

Tourism Partner Updates

Congratulations to the Lost Key Marina for its recent grand opening.

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Group Sales
(contact Lori Coppels)

This month, Lori attended the Escambia County Farm Tour to learn more about attractions for visitors. Agri-tourism and eco-tourism are becoming increasingly popular, and more visitors are requesting information about local produce, green travel, conservation practices and farm tours. The CVB will be developing collaterals and itineraries targeting these groups. The Pensacola Bay Area’s agricultural offerings were featured in a recent issue of Group Travel Leader magazine, and the CVB will continue to look for other opportunities to promote attractions and tours for groups.

Secret Season Group Rates Posted

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Hot off the Press
(contact Laura Lee)

Food writers from Florida Travel and Life and Cooking Light spent several days in Pensacola during the Crawfish Festival. Downtown’s dining scene will be featured in the September issue of Florida Travel and Life. In addition, Southern Living featured Downtown Pensacola in a two-page article in its May issue, which highlighted attractions, shops and restaurants. The CVB is currently pitching our area’s free activities and the new 1tank2pensacola campaign to key drive markets to encourage travel to Pensacola as an affordable and accessible destination. We are also working with publications such as Budget Travel to cover the 450th anniversary celebration. If you have news items or story ideas, please share them with Laura Lee at llee@visitpensacola.com.

Go to www.VisitPensacola.com/media for recent news releases about adventure travel, group travel and Pensacola Bay Area weddings.

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HRT Notice
(contact Barbara Williams)

The next Hospitality Roundtable luncheon will be Tuesday, June 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Angus on 1101 Scenic Highway in Pensacola. The cost of the luncheon is $12 for HRT members, $20 for non-members. Payment should be made at the door with checks made payable to Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. No invoicing will be permitted.

Our guest speaker will be Becky Bray, CRA administrator for the City of Pensacola.

Since we must guarantee reservations, if you RSVP and do not attend, you will be billed for the cost of your lunch. RSVP by e-mailing Barbara at bwilliams@visitpensacola.com or by calling 434-1234 by 3 p.m., Friday, June 13.

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