Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Local efforts to attract tourists to the Florida Keys brought home top honors at the Florida Governor's Conference on Tourism last month.

The Monroe County Tourist Development Council's Web site, FloridaKeys.com, earned the Henry Flagler Award for the best tourism Web site in Florida.

The council also garnered several statewide hospitality promotional awards, given by Visit Florida, the state's marketing arm.

"We're honored that once again our advertising, marketing and public relations initiatives were chosen as among best in the state," said tourism council Director Harold Wheeler.

FloridaKeys.com, owned by Cooke Communications, parent company of The Citizen, administers the Web site for the tourism council, which is responsible for marketing the Florida Keys and Key West to travelers. Tinsley Advertising creates the council's advertising and NewmanPR coordinates public relations.

The Web site experienced a 16.5 percent increase in the number of individual visitors compared with the same period in 2006, averaging more than 432,500 per month. The number of times a page was viewed also increased, from 68,555 to more than 2.4 million a month.

In 2007, new additions to the site included live, streaming Web cams, pod casts, more drop-down menus, a searchable database for finding hotels, software that makes it more accessible for people with disabilities, and a complete graphical redesign so the Web site has the same feel as the print and television advertisements.

"Earning The Henry at this year's Visit Florida's Flagler Awards represents a significant accomplishment," said Clinton Barras, director of sales and marketing for FloridaKeys.com. "Since more people are turning to the Internet to plan their vacations than ever before, being recognized as the No. 1 tourism-related Web site in Florida is a huge honor."

The tourism council has approved several new Web site enhancements for the 2008-2009 budget year, Barras said. They include more live Web cams throughout the Keys, integrating more components such allowing visitors to post photos and videos of their personal vacations, and an interactive map of the Florida Keys' reefs and wrecks, featuring high-definition video and photography.

"With these additions, FloridaKeys.com is hoping to bring home another Henry Award next year," Barras said.

The tourism council also garnered top awards, called "Henrys," for in-newspaper advertising, recognizing a series of four advertisements headlined: "It's checkout time," "Wind. Unwind.," "Prioritize.," and "Even our charted waters are off the charts."

The Keys also were finalists in multicultural marketing, resource/promotional material-trade, direct mail, newspaper and magazine advertising categories.

Named for the vision, perseverance, imagination and commitment of Henry Flagler, the Flagler Awards were established by the Florida Commission on Tourism to recognize outstanding tourism marketing in Florida. Every year, the Flagler Awards honor many of the individuals and organizations that help maintain and improve Florida's position as one of the world's most popular travel destinations.

The annual Flagler Awards are open to all individuals, private businesses and not-for-profit organizations offering a product or service that promotes tourism to or within the state of Florida.

amswary@keysnews.com