TDC Spring Break Poll Results

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Posted: 8:53 PM Jul 8, 2009 TDC Spring Break Poll Results Bay County Tourist Development Council members evaluated the results of a study on spring break today, and some of those results were surprising. Reporter: Mark Vaughn Email Address: mark.vaughn@wjhg.com Spring Break Survey

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Love it or hate it, spring break is an important part of the economy for beach businesses.

But is it costing the area business the rest of the year?

Bay County Tourist Development Council members evaluated the results of a study on spring break today, and some of those results were surprising.

The TDC will now use the information to help decide future marketing strategies, including spring break.

The debate over marketing college spring break could be heating up after results of a study show that a majority of people.

In the study associate Panama City Beach with spring break and that's not necessarily a good thing.

TDC Chairman Marty McDaniel said, "6 in 10 people view Destin as a place that has spring break, 7 in 10 view Myrtle Beach as a place that has spring break, but they have a positive impression of those which they don't have for us. I think that has a lot to do with how we developed our reputation for spring break, and I think that's what we need to work on."

A thousand people were surveyed in cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, and Chicago about spring break and its affect on their plans to visit several destinations including Panama City Beach.

The survey was broken into drivers and flyers.

52 percent of the drivers thought spring break made beach less attractive.

"The drive market I think that there's a large percentage that do have a negative impression of us and I think that's manageable,” added McDaniel.

A positive from the survey was the fact that fly market visitors didn't think about Panama City Beach one way or the other, that may sound bad but it could mean there is a blank slate that can be filled with the new airport coming.

TDC Member Andy Phillips said, "Those visitors don't have a perception so now is the time to get that perception as a positive."

Even if the TDC is against promoting college spring break, the city's image won't change overnight.

"It's not about spring break. People say we need to change this negative perception. Is it a negative perception? We have a very unique personality in Panama City Beach," added Phillips.

The TDC will hold a community forum on August 19th at 9 a.m. to hear community concerns and comments about the issue.

Latest Comments

Posted by: simp Location: tyndall afb on Jul 9, 2009 at 12:53 PM

As a GM of one of the restaurants on the beach I can say that Spring Break is a vital part of yearly income. The summer sales this year have been great as well, but not comparable to the month of March. People complain about spring breakers getting drunk and acting foolish, but I have seen the same display during summer. With the way the economy is people are looking for vacations closer to home, more bang for the buck. We need to concentrate on providing that to the people around here.
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Posted by: Arturo Location: Panama City Beach on Jul 9, 2009 at 12:51 PM

I think Spring Break only benefits a small number of businesses who sell alcohol and whose owners live in Atlanta and could care less about our community. Interestingly enough, I met one of the UMTV officials this past Spring Break and he won't even allow his own children to come to Spring Break in PCB. We can enhance our image greatly and revenues too by attracting more sport events, marriage retreats, eco-vacations, alternative Spring Break volunteer opportunities, etc. Let's make PCB a family friendly destination year round. We have Pier Park, Frank Brown Park, a new airport, CRA projects and we are surrounded by some of the most beautiful state parks. We definitely don't need alcohol or public sex to sell PCB.
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Posted by: Employer of 166 LOCALS Location: Panama City Beach on Jul 9, 2009 at 10:25 AM

So we are going to let the opinion of summer visitors dictate our our feb & mar business. Let TDC keep their(our)money and still have a college spring break. Keep dictating the beach and you will have more than a private school close. Those 4-6 weeks keep most people from closing the doors and helps the tax rolls. I bet if Garth Brooks played VS LIL Wayne, we would not be having this conversation(poll). We can't keep the beach rooms 100% full for what, maybe 6 days during summer and we are going to try to fill them during the spring with the same summer visitors. Not going to happen. The beach is big (tall) enough for all ages to enjoy. If not please explain to ALL the working locals they have lost another 2 months of income.
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