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Visit Lauderdale continued
By Anthony J. Rayburn/Visit Lauderdale
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A key benefit to living in a community sustained by
tourism is that we get to enjoy such a great and diverse
dining scene and wonderful arts and cultural offerings.
Understandably, local residents can get impatient with
the crowds lining up to get into restaurants, especially
along Las Olas Boulevard and A1A. It’s important to
realize though that without a steady stream of visitors,
many of our favorite restaurants, attractions and cultural
institutions wouldn’t be able to stay in business.
During the pandemic when recreational and business
travel came to a standstill, it was starkly apparent that
tourism is essential to our regional economy. As soon as
people felt comfortable traveling again the floodgates
opened last summer. All those people tired of living and
working and supervising their children’s remote
learning at home were eager for a change of scenery.
Some lessons we’ve learned over the years is that crisis
situations affecting people’s ability, desire and
willingness to travel will fluctuate, and it’s important to
continually educate and remind the traveling public about
interesting things to see and do here, and also why we
are an excellent business and convention destination.
Today people make travel decisions based on the latest
digital ad, television commercial or social media post
they saw and liked so it’s important to maintain a
steady stream of messages as part of a research-driven
annual marketing plan. We also work to promote
hidden gems all throughout Broward County. We
actively seek out smaller restaurants and businesses
outside our more popular beach and downtown zones
to promote on our tourism website visitlauderdale.com,
on our @visitlauderdale social media channels and
through our tourism public relations efforts.
Throughout our marketing we are emphasizing our new
“Everyone Under the Sun” slogan. We are a
wonderfully diverse and welcoming community, which
is one of the best reasons I know to share our beautiful
area with visitors.
Stacy Ritter is president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, the
official destination marketing organization for Greater
Fort Lauderdale that serves as the tourism department for
Broward County. Visit Lauderdale promotes the county’s
31 municipalities to a global audience of leisure and
business travelers as a year-round visitor destination.
Visitors staying in short-term lodging spend upwards of
$8 billion in the community and are the leading driver for
employment and positive economic impact.
LAS OLAS BOULEVARD & ISLES