Photo courtesy Visit Sarasota County: Erin Duggan

Erin Duggan grew up in Sarasota and has lived here most of her adult life. It’s about to be her job to convince the world the region is worth a visit.

Visit Sarasota County’s board of directors this month announced Duggan will serve as the organization’s new president and CEO, succeeding long-time leader Virginia Haley. That’s a promotion for Duggan, who for years served as the tourism bureau’s vice president.

A lifetime love of the region makes it easy enough for Duggan to list its virtues, but she notes the work of Visit Sarasota County is more than spotlighting community assets.

“It’s not just marketing a destination,” she said. “It’s about marketing the right aspects of the destination to the right people at the right time.”

The crowd flooding hotels in the summer represent a different kind of tourist, for example, than those coming to the area in February. It’s up to Visit Sarasota County to draw in business and recreation travelers during off seasons, and to draw in domestic and international travel who will support not just the hospitality industry but the entire economy.

Just as an example, she notes government conferences, where attendees come on the taxpayer dime, want to hold their events during points in the year when hotel rates are lowest. The tourism bureau often helps those public partners to find hotels with the right accommodations during times of year when the hotels offer rooms at the lowest cost, typically times when hoteliers hold the most anxiety about filling rooms at all.

Meanwhile, other business conferences often want help finding an appropriate amount of space for events at peak times when many hotels are largely booked. Visit Sarasota County wants to make sure hotels enjoy the greatest amount of profits when bringing those kinds of conventions to town.

And while a coastal community like Sarasota County needs to market its beaches, the indisputable leading draw for tourists, the bureau also markets the cultural and ecological assets that attract a special niche of traveler. Additionally, its those resources that help set Sarasota apart from other beachfront destinations. Duggan, for example, notes Visit Sarasota County holds the trademark to market the region as the “Cultural Coast.” But more important, it has the museums and galleries to back that up.

“We have been marketing as the ‘Cultural Coast’ for years, but we are really going to ramp that up,” Duggan said. “The same with outdoor and natural opportunities.” And in recent years, Sarasota has stepped up sports investments and wooed tournaments at all collegiate levels throughout the year.

One evolution Duggan wants to continue to usher is the inclusion of voices throughout the business community in how the destination will be marketed. That’s something Haley started and Duggan plans to continue.

“Virginia Haley is brilliant,” Duggan said. “She really does a great job listening to the community and listening to the equally brilliant board of director. We have a board that us very diverse. It used to be primarily tourism folks. Now it purposefully has health care leaders, small business owners, large business owners, people from banking and construction.

“Tourism is so much more than just restaurants and hotels.”

Photo courtesy Visit Sarasota County: Erin Duggan