Tourist Development Council calls September Seafood Days an "unprecedented success"

The Franklin County Tourist Development Council is calling its September Seafood Days Promotion an ”unprecedented success.”

The $350,000 promotion was funded by BP and allowed for the purchase of nearly 6,700 gift cards which were distributed by Franklin County hotels, rental agencies and campgrounds.

The promotion involved giving $50 gift cards to visitors who booked a room and stayed at least two nights in any of Franklin County’s licensed lodging providers.

The longer people stayed, the more gift cards they received up to $250.

The promotion encouraged visitors to use the cards in area restaurants, with local charter captains and at area seafood markets.

The council said preliminary figures indicate that the promotion generated more than 13,000 nights worth of lodging countywide and pumped more than $330,000 into the Franklin County economy.

The September Seafood Days promotion was so successful that the initial allotment of 4,500 cards was used up in four days.

Consequently, TDC officials scrambled to order an additional 2,200 cards to fill reservation requests.

Officials finally ended up halting the gift card portion of the promotion after only a week due to overwhelming response.

The September Seafood Days Promotion is one of three current Tourist development Council promotions.

The others involve promoting the area’s 2010-2011 Festivals and Events through a combination of rack cards, table tents and placements that are being distributed to businesses across the county and at each of the State’s five welcome centers.

The third ongoing promotion is the Natural Florida Getaway promotion coordinated with Visit Florida at each of the state’s five welcome centers.

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