ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Tourism leaders from Grand Bahama Island will meet with local officials this week and get a first-hand feel for St. Lucie County in an effort to build a business and tourism partnership.

Grand Bahamian and St. Lucie County officials hope the visit, which will include tours of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, will help solidify a non-binding agreement the two groups entered into in December with the goal of boosting tourism in both locations. One of the main ideas behind the agreement is to work together to market both areas, such as offering vacation packages between the two locations.

“An important thing happening here is we have representatives from the business and private sector from the Bahamas coming,” said Erica Byfield, president of Comet Creative, the marketing agency for the St. Lucie County Tourism and Development Council. “This is not just government to government.”

This week’s trip will be the fourth meeting between the two groups. It will include brainstorming sessions with local business and government leaders, a visit to the county’s airport and port, a boat tour of the Indian River Lagoon and a New York Mets exhibition game at Tradition Field. The officials will cap off the trip with a visit to downtown Fort Pierce’s Friday Fest, which will feature a Grand Bahama “village” with a joint tourism table, two authentic craft vendors from the island and Junkanoo dancers.

The two groups have already taken a step to co-market both destinations though a giveaway where 10 winners will receive a free round of golf at the PGA Golf Club, a VIP tour and private party at Tradition Field and a free round trip flight to Grand Bahama Island.

The package is sponsored by the St. Lucie County Tourism Development Council, PGA Golf Club and Grand Bahama Island. Those 10 winners will join the visiting delegation Thursday afternoon to watch the game between the Mets and the Italian World Baseball Classic team and get a tour of the stadium and barbecue lunch.

Byfield said at least four people from Grand Bahama will be in St. Lucie County through Saturday, along with a camera crew from a Bahamian television station.

WELCOME WAGON

A delegation of tourism officials from Grand Bahama Island will visit St. Lucie County this week. The trip will include:

• A media breakfast at the Marriott Residence Inn in St. Lucie West on Thursday morning

• A New York Mets exhibition game at Tradition Field Thursday afternoon

• A dinner with government officials at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center on Thursday evening

• A boat tour of the Indian River Lagoon on Friday morning

• Friday Fest and dinner at Cobbs Landing in downtown Fort Pierce on Friday evening
By Sarah Prohaska, Correspondent

Tags: bahamas, baseball, boat, boating, camera, development, golf, government, grand, imported, PGA, tourism, Tradition, vacation

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 10:41 am and is filed under Community events, Economy, Fort Pierce, Indian River County, Port St. Lucie, Schools, Sports, St. Lucie County, Tradition, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.