Simple. Succinct. Definitely to the point. And if you’re from out of town, you’ll be seeing the above phrase more and more as the St. Pete/Clearwater tourism arm uses it to replace the decidedly clunky ‘St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.’ While that will remain the agency’s official name, brochures and promotional material will now feature the new streamlined tagline. The cute sun and waves are refreshed, too.

Its the first in recently-appointed C & V Bureau executive director D.T. Minich’s series of changes intended in giving Pinellas County tourism a kick in the beach shorts. Next up, introducing a French-language version of the touted Florida’s Beach website to complement the German and Spanish versions, increasing advertising at Orlando Intl Airport to attract British tourists,  and even a partnership with The Martha Stewert Show to give away a vacation to our home beaches to an audience member (Tip: if you already live here, feel free to take the cookbook instead).

All sound like perfectly grand ideas to this blogger’s ears as this is as much as I’ve heard about

Pinellas promoting itself since…ever. With both winter on the chilly horizon and Canadian/European money so strong versus American greenbacks, the time is ripe to lure these frostbitten and pale Northerners down for some sand and tan. Now if only Clearwater Beach didn’t raze half its hotel rooms…

Oh, and speaking of name changes, Minich was the brains behind the ‘Beaches of Ft. Myers and Sanibel’ slogan which has likely been drilled incessently into your skull if you watch FOXNews, the History Channel, or anything else on cable. And there’s no doubt its better than the renaming done across the bay by the Tampa Bay C & V Bureau. Their new shock & awe? ‘Tampa Bay & Company.’

Yeah. Exactly. I guess their “focus on attracting business” explains the too-subtle double entendre, but it sounds like a mid-morning coffee clatch on 970AM than a serious organization.

So, what say you? Like the slogan? Heck, do you even like this blog? Its my first and I hope to contribute much more from West Central Florida as time goes by.

Post by Brian