Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MARK ALBRIGHT"Florida is open," officials tell vacationers, while being sensitive to the destruction caused by Charley.
Knocked for a loop by Hurricane Charley, Florida's tourist industry began charting a new marketing strategy Monday to let vacationers know the state's biggest industry is quickly getting back on its feet.
The executive committee of Visit Florida Inc. decided to buy print ads in some nationally circulated newspapers this weekend. The $119,000 campaign will thank Floridians and rescue workers who poured from other states while dropping subtle reminders that it's business as usual for the vacation industry except for some hard-hit areas that are still reeling in Southwest Florida.
The agency, which made its first assessment of the damage on Monday, will use some of the initial expenditure to research whether enough vacationers cancel their Florida trips to justify spending up to $1.2-million in additional state money on tourist ads this fall to get the phones ringing again.
"It's extraordinarily important to let the visitors know Florida is open," said Bill Talbert, chief executive of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.
On the advice of Gov. Jeb Bush, however, tourist marketers will temper their message to be sensitive to parts of the state where upwards of 1-million residents are without power, and hotels are jammed with rescue workers, insurance claims adjusters and people made homeless by the storm.
"There's a tremendous amount of tragedy going on in this state right now," said the governor, who chairs the state Commission on Tourism. "There needs to be a little bit of time, it could be days or weeks, before we get our message out."
An initial assessment of the hurricane's impact on the state's visitor industry indicated the recovery has been quick so far. The storm ripped through the middle of the state, but missed the most populous coastal areas of the Tampa Bay area and South Florida. While Charley brushed right past Walt Disney World and rolled through Orlando, all the big theme parks there were reopened by Monday.
But the storm cut a swath from Charlotte and Lee counties up the Peace River into Orlando before moving back offshore in North Florida on Friday.
The opening of a new amusement park at the revived Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven has been stalled by the widespread destruction of the attraction's distinctive landscaping. Bok Tower in Lake Wales is intact but the grounds are in disarray and the gift store was destroyed. More than 260 trees were blown over at Sea World and the water ski show stadium was knocked out of commission.
Power failures continued to plague many Orlando and Osceola County neighborhoods on Monday although officials said full recovery was a couple of days off.
Hardest hit, of course, are Charlotte and Lee counties, ground zero for Charley's move ashore. Fort Myers Beach and many barrier islands in Lee County remained cut off from the mainland Monday. More than 10 major hotels there will be closed for months. The sprawling South Seas Plantation Resort absorbed a lot of damage, officials said.
"Most of our hotels still have no power and are not accepting guests," said Roxie Smith, president of Pink Shell Development in Fort Myers Beach. "We should have power up and running within a week, but the beach has been badly eroded."
While the barrier island beaches have been sealed off, a Cape Coral ferry boat operator is offering $26 boat tours of the storm damage at Captiva, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach. Sanibel and Captiva homeowners can make the trip for half price.
In Arcadia, many downtown buildings, the rodeo stadium and many antiques shops suffered major damage, while felled trees littered the landscape.
"We are not as historic or scenic anymore and the (Peace River) is still rising," said Becky Bragg, owner of Canoe Outpost, a day-trip outfitter. "I'll be fine once we find all our boats, but my real problem is my employees. I cannot pay them without any business."
In other reports, officials said exclusive Useppa Island in Lee County has been devastated as well as rustic Pine Island in Charlotte County. About 90 percent of Useppa's buildings suffered major damage while the rest and a 50-slip marina were destroyed.
Fort Jefferson, the National Park on the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles west of Key West, also was reported closed after an 8-foot storm surge wiped out the dock there.
Visit Florida's travel Web site (visitflorida.com) includes current hurricane damage reports from 37 visitor bureaus around the state that are updated daily with such information as hotel availability, pricing and whether tourists are even welcome yet.
One notable exception is the Web site run by Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands. It makes no mention of Charley.
"It's because they've got no electricity and things are pretty desperate there," said Flo Hasse, who asnwers the Charlotte Harbor agency's tourist calls at a Fort Myers call center. "We're running the call center on generators. It's 97 degrees here and we've got no air conditioning. But everybody's pitching in to help."
-Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or 727 893-8252.