'Off-season' becoming thing of the past

Advertising and airline access are changing the area's reputation as a winter-only destination.

By EDIE GROSS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 11, 2000

Daryl Seaton's Clearwater childhood consisted of exactly two seasons: Winter, when the tourists flocked to his father's beach hotel, and the rest of the year, when even the gas stations closed shop.

"We had a winter season -- January, February, March -- and an off-season," said Seaton, president of SeaWake Resorts on Clearwater Beach. "The 7-Eleven's would close up for the summer. There was nobody here."

Those winter peaks and lonely days of summer are gone for local tourist attractions. The number of tourists who visited Pinellas County in spring and summer 1999 actually surpassed the number of winter visitors, a first for the area.

While Northerners still flock to the gulf beaches during the cooler days of the year, visitors from Europe and the Midwest are pushing the fall, summer and spring numbers higher and higher, challenging the area's reputation as a winter-only destination.

"We've truly become a year-round destination," said Seaton, who serves on the county's Tourist Development Council.

Aggressive advertising campaigns and increased airline service are turning the county's off-season into tourist time. Statistics provided by the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau show that the number of visitors coming to the area in spring, summer and fall is increasing at a faster rate than the number of tourists arriving in the winter.

The same is true for the rest of Florida, according to data developed by Visit Florida, the non-profit corporation that is the state's official tourism marketing arm. Between 1995 and 1998, visitors to Florida during the first half of the year increased about 15 percent.

The number of summer visitors increased about 17 percent, and fall tourism increased 26 percent statewide. The result: No more peaks and valleys in Florida's tourism time line.

"That flattening seems to be taking hold all over the state. If summer visitation hasn't outpaced the rest of the year, it's sure getting close," said Visit Florida spokesman Tom Flanigan, who said the state stepped up its tourism marketing in the face of competition from other tropical locations. "Florida's whole tourism industry has taken the wise opinion that it's smart to promote Florida as a year-round destination, not just when it's cold out."

The local Convention and Visitors Bureau has been using tourist development taxes for years to try to up the number of visitors in the summertime. The gulf beaches are featured prominently on the back of Universal Studio's park book, and the agency has done some joint advertising with Busch Gardens to reach families, who make up most of the summer tourist pack.

Local statistics show that Canadians and other Northerners seem to head back home around April or May. But Europeans and Latin Americans don't seem to mind the heat. Their numbers actually grow during the summer.

During a tourist focus group attended by Wit Tuttell, the bureau's public relations director, one man announced that he visited the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area each August.

"He said, "I live in Germany. Nothing's too hot,' ' Tuttell recalled. "While 95 degrees may be nasty to us, it's refreshing to somebody."

Mary Woodnorth, a travel agent with Beale Travel Service in Chicago, said her clients don't think twice about flying to Florida in the summer, particularly the St. Petersburg-Clearwater region.

"Florida, at least for people who live in Illinois, is almost a year-round destination," she said. "People just say, "Get me out of here.' "

Fall has traditionally been the slowest time of year for the local tourist industry, but even that is on the rise.

Last year was the first time the Convention and Visitors Bureau launched a campaign designed to increase fall visitors. The bureau spent $1.15-million on the Fall 'N Love ad campaign, hoping to attract couples on the East Coast and in the Midwest with TV spots and magazine ads.

The strategy seems to have paid off. An extra 50,600 visitors arrived in Pinellas County in fall 1999. Their economic impact is estimated at $610.9-million, nearly $41-million higher than in 1998.

Ad campaigns are not the only driving force behind the seasonal increases. Airlines, which have increased the flights into Tampa International and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International airports, have done their part as well.

Sun Country Airlines began scheduled flights to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport from Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee in September. The airport's seven airlines offer about 26 flights a day, but three of those companies -- Sun Country, ATA and Southeast -- are planning to expand their schedules in the coming year.

At Tampa International Airport, 15 airlines added flights to their schedules in 1999. Southwest Airlines, in particular, added flights to previously untapped markets such as Austin, Texas, and Islip, Long Island.

The number of passengers traveling through Tampa International increased 9.3-percent last year to 15.1-million.

Those direct flights are key to increasing tourism year-round, Tuttell said. About 75 percent of the tourists who visit this area come by plane.

"If somebody's in Long Island near Islip and it takes two flights to get to us and one flight to get to some other beach, they're more likely to go where they can fly the easiest," he said.

Woodnorth, the Chicago travel agent, said ATA's direct flights from Chicago Midway Airport to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International encourage her clients to choose this area as a vacation destination.

"Midway to St. Pete is very full," said Woodnorth, a fan of the area's beaches. "Orlando is fine if you're going to go to the Magic Kingdom, and Miami is really not a destination for families. St. Petersburg-Clearwater down to Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples, clients seem to like the gulf side of Florida. There are lot of things there for families."

Carole Ketterhagen, executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said officials will continue to promote the idea that Florida, particularly Pinellas County, is not just for winter anymore.

"The No. 1 preferred vacation destination is the beach, no matter what time of year. When it's summer, people think vacation and they think, "Family vacation. Let's go to the beach,' " Ketterhagen said. "But we're not the only beach in the world. We have to continue to be competitive."

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