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Visit St. Pete Clearwater reports strong UK trade engagement after March roadshow
Summary
A Visit St. Pete Clearwater delegation reported outreach in London and Manchester, including trade trainings with Virgin Atlantic Holidays and events that produced trade leads and follow-up training commitments.
Rosemary, a Visit St. Pete Clearwater staff member, said the destination team ran a series of trade events and training sessions in London and Manchester in March to educate U.K. travel agents and tour operators about offerings in St. Pete–Clearwater.
The delegation held virtual and in-person sessions with operators including Ocean Holidays and Virgin Atlantic Holidays; Rosemary said five in-person sessions at Virgin Atlantic Holidays’ West Sussex headquarters reached about 30 call-center staff. She said hotel partners from the delegation — Anna Fernandez of the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach and Jamie Houser of the Sheraton Sand Key — presented on their properties during the visits.
The delegation hosted three evening trade events: a tour-operator dinner in London, an agent event in Manchester at Electric Shuffle and an event in London at Swingers. Rosemary said each event combined a 20-minute destination training with interactive activities and concluded with quizzes; winners received spots on an upcoming U.K. familiarization (fam) trip. She said events were promoted on industry channels, including Bridal Gossip and Facebook, to boost trade visibility.
Rosemary said Rooster, the contracted sales partner, will share updated presentation materials, offer training for agents who missed in-person sessions, add attendees to a monthly trade newsletter and send updated imagery and selling points to attendees. She said Rooster will also scope additional U.K. events for the remainder of 2025.
Rosemary summarized attendee feedback: “a great venue, a great team promoting a great destination,” and noted positive remarks from the two hotel partners who travelled with the delegation.
The presentation did not include a specific numeric tally of resulting bookings from the U.K. roadshow; Rosemary described the next steps for follow-up and training but did not state concrete sales figures tied to the trip.
Council members asked about follow-up marketing in the U.K. and broader international markets; Rosemary said the team expects about 10 international fam trips inbound between the meeting date and year-end and that the office will continue training and sales activity in the U.K. and other international markets.
