The Bay County Economic Development Alliance is working to find a way to move the local economy forward. At Wednesday morning's meeting, discussions centered around how to build up the economy through tourism and by bringing in more companies that could help build the Bay County workforce.

In the meeting, attendees learned that Bay County was one of the top 5 leisure destinations in the state of Florida. Dan Rowe, Executive Director of the Tourism Development Council, went on to discuss the TDC's plan to feed into that crowd and develop Bay County's tourism industry.

The hope is to diversify Bay County and help it grow into a year round destination while still preserving the primary reasons visit - the beaches - which could mean more work for the job market.

"That's a part of economic development," said Neal Wade, Executive Director of the EDA. "What they're doing to bring in visitors, quite often they're bringing in executives, decision makers, from companies who may now look here to expand because they came here and had such a great experience in Bay County."

And while attempts to bring in businesses has been an uphill battle, Wade says efforts have not been in vain. According to officials, there are several projects happening right now, it's just a matter of ensuring companies that they have the available workforce.