TAMPA Convention Visitors’ Association has just reopened its UK office after three years in a joint effort with the Tampa International Airport.
According to executive vice-president Steve Hayes, the UK market was more important than originally thought, so more focus is needed to keep up the momentum.
“We need to get our name out there and establish links with key operators,” he said.
UK visitors had dropped from being the first or second largest inbound markets to the third largest.
But with investment from Tampa, UK tourism moved back up and now represents 20% of the total long-haul market, second only to the Canadian visitors.
The TCVA is investing approximately $95,000 into promoting Tampa in the UK. The majority of the money is being spent on product awareness for agents and operators, trade shows and familiarisation trips. But raising the profile will be a slow process according to Hayes.
“We’ve got to do this in steps, it’s going to take time.”
Presently there are around 20 to 25 operators specialising in Tampa and Hayes is trying to bring that number up to between 30 and 35.