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The draw: Pop and crackle!

The new chamber boss wants fireworks to ignite business at beaches.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published October 15, 2006

NORTH REDINGTON BEACH - The fireworks will come first.

Then the tourists.

And, finally, the beaches of the Tampa Bay area, with their humble streets abutted by McDonald's, Waffle House and aging bungalow-style motels, will become an international destination - the new French Rivera or Cape Cod.

This is how Mark Neter, the new president of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce, sees it. He wishes everyone else could, too.

But, Neter, a British expatriate with a lengthy background in tourism and business, faces a number of challenges in his new gig. He must come up with new ways to attract tourists to a region that depends heavily on the hospitality industry. He has to repair the image of a chamber that has been bruised in recent years by gossip, distrust and financial woes. He also needs to create a sense of unity among the more than a dozen communities, from Clearwater Beach to Tierra Verde, that make up the Tampa Bay area beaches.

If Neter succeeds, he could help boost the economy and put the Tampa Bay area on the map. If he fails, it will be another disappointment for local business owners.

First, however, he must get his arsenal of fireworks.

"It would cost about $15,000 a week," he told business owners during a chamber luncheon in North Redington Beach on a recent afternoon, beginning another breathless, run-on sentence. "But, imagine, if we do it every Friday, and everyone knows it is there, and they say, 'Hey, let's go to the beach,' and then they have to stay because it's nighttime, and it becomes this big thing that everyone knows about."

It would be expensive, an older woman pointed out.

Maybe they could swing it once a month instead, a young woman suggested.

But Neter could not be swayed. And just as he continued to quietly search for a sponsor for his weekly bonanza of fireworks, he began applying the same determination to all of his plans for the chamber.

He wants people to catch on to his "beach synergy" motto, an idea that demands that all business owners, governments and residents along the Gulf Coast work together, not in competition, to promote tourism.

He frowns upon individualism. On their own, the cities and towns that line the coast are unknown to outsiders, he said. But when grouped together, the region presents an enticing mixture of beaches, culture and theme parks.

His plan is simple: People must first see the term "Tampa Bay beaches," associate it with sun and fun, and then the tourists - or "sand dollars," as Neter calls them - will come.

"It is Branding 101," he said.

This is the first time Neter will manage a chamber of commerce. For the past 20 years, he has served as a vice president for a wholesale tour company; a business development manager for an online vacation booking agency; and a manager for a company that highlights Florida attractions.

During much of that time, he lived in Cape Cod, Mass., but three years ago, he moved to Largo to be closer to his children's grandparents. He applied for the chamber position in late August and a week later began his new job.

The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce was created about eight years ago, when the individual chambers of St. Pete Beach, Madeira Beach and Treasure Island merged. Back then, it was called the Gulf Beach Chamber of Commerce. The name change came after the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa to capitalize on the Tampa Bay area's sudden fame.

Immediately, there was a slight backlash. Some business owners complained that the chamber was unsuccessful in bringing more customers to the area. They accused the chamber of being disorganized and stopped paying their membership dues.

"It just seemed to be all one way," said Steve Rayow, who operates Captain Steve's Tours in Madeira Beach and quit the chamber several years ago. "You paid your dues and didn't get anything back from it."

Neter is working furiously to bring back former members, sending a constant stream of e-mails inviting business owners to join.

He wants a clean state, his friends said.

"You are a new person coming in, and you want to have goals and you want to shoot for the stars," said Nancy Foster, director of leisure travel for the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and a friend of Neter's for more than a decade. "Mark is just the person to do that."

Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@sptimes.com or 727 893-8846.

[Last modified October 14, 2006, 19:42:10]