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Chamber president ready to make beaches pop out

The new chamber boss wants fireworks to ignite business and attract tourists.

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published October 22, 2006

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 not, it'll be another disappointment for businesses.

"It would cost about $15,000 a week," he told business owners during a chamber luncheon in North Redington Beach Tuesday. "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.

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.

Three years ago he moved to Largo from Cape Cod, Mass. He applied for the chamber position and a week later began his new job. The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber started about eight years ago as the Gulf Beach Chamber.

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

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 20:42:05]