Olivia Georges, international marketing lead for Manatee County, told the Tourist Development Council that recent co-op campaigns produced sizable impressions abroad but only modest direct room-night bookings. "This campaign ran for 3 months, and, overall, there was 4,500,000 impressions," Georges said about a Central Europe campaign that included a Vienna tram with a QR code directing consumers to a booking microsite; staff reported 225 room nights resulting from that campaign.

Georges also described an America Unlimited campaign in Germany that featured a celebrity promotion and partnership with Visit Tampa Bay. "This campaign produced 12,000,000 overall impressions" and, according to Georges, generated 690 room nights to the destination. For the U.K. market the county prioritized luxury travel agents and hosted agent training, a home-page takeover and a video played at a high-visibility London venue.

Isaiah Lewis of Downes & Saint Germain gave a compact October lodging and visitation dashboard. He reported combined October occupancy of 55%, an average daily rate of $235 and a combined RevPAR of $129 across an estimated 11,350 units. Hotel metrics were reported as 63% occupancy, ADR $142 and RevPAR $89.59 (5,450 hotel units); vacation rental metrics were 47.7% occupancy, ADR $321 and RevPAR $126 (5,900 rental units). Lewis reported 107,000 visitors in October, 193,000 room nights and recreational spending estimated at $108,150,000.

Commissioners asked for more context and asked staff to include questions in the quarterly dataset about why visitors might not return (hurricane concerns, financial considerations). Elliot Falcione said the office will include deeper survey analysis in the full Oct–Dec quarterly presentation and provide commissioners a one-page summary of target demographics.

Board members discussed shifting to higher-end, luxury tour operators to match price points on island properties and how partnerships with Visit Tampa Bay can expand out-of-home placements while preserving trade-focused distribution to operators. "For fiscal year this year, we are going to focus on laid back luxury, twin city center packages, and leisure sports tourism," Georges said, listing Amsterdam, Northern England and Scandinavia among markets of opportunity.

Staff did not propose any new formal action during the presentation but will return with the full quarterly dataset and a one-page market summary in the new year.