Visit St. Pete/Clearwater (VSPC) is the official tourism marketing and management organization for the St. Pete/Clearwater area and a department of Pinellas County Government, charged with strengthening the county’s economy through visitor spending, tourism-related job development and destination management.
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater
Public Sector / Destination Organization
Tourism / Economic Development / Destination Management
Pinellas County Residents • Visitors • Tourism & Hospitality Industry • Municipal & County Leadership • Elected Officials • Business & Economic Development Community • Arts, Culture, Sports & Film Industries • Community Stakeholders
Pinellas County Government • Leadership Across Pinellas County’s 24 Municipalities • Tourism & Hospitality Industry Partners • Arts & Cultural Organizations • Sports & Film Industries • Environmental & Community Organizations • Business & Economic Development Leaders • Media Partners
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater (VSPC) is the official tourism marketing and management organization for the St. Pete/Clearwater area and a department of Pinellas County Government, charged with strengthening the county’s economy through visitor spending, tourism-related job development and destination management.
Following the unprecedented disruption of the hospitality and tourism industry during COVID-19, VSPC engaged HCP Associates to help chart a five-year path for the future of tourism across Pinellas County.
The assignment became much more than a strategic plan. HCP combined first-party research, community sentiment, industry intelligence and extensive stakeholder engagement to help VSPC understand the changing tourism landscape, establish shared priorities and develop measurable objectives for the future.
At the center of that work was an important evolution: helping VSPC expand its focus from primarily destination marketing to destination marketing and destination stewardship — balancing visitation and economic impact with community engagement, destination management, business development and long-term quality of place.
The resulting framework did not simply define where Pinellas County tourism should go. It created a roadmap VSPC could continue putting into action.
President & CEO
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater
Tourism is one of Pinellas County’s most important economic drivers, but its impact reaches far beyond visitors and hotel rooms.
It affects residents, businesses, hospitality workers, municipalities, arts and cultural organizations, sports, film, environmental resources, infrastructure and communities throughout the county. COVID-19 dramatically disrupted that ecosystem.
As tourism began recovering, VSPC needed to understand not simply how to restore visitation, but how tourism should evolve over the next five years — and how communities throughout Pinellas County could participate in and benefit from that future.
HCP engaged leadership and stakeholders across hospitality, sports, film, arts, environmental interests, public administration, elected office and media while examining the broader state of tourism throughout Pinellas County.
The goal was not to develop a strategy for stakeholders. It was to develop one with them.
The strategic planning process began with first-party research.
HCP designed and conducted an online stakeholder survey, community sentiment survey, and industry and visitor market analysis, providing multiple perspectives on the current state and future of Pinellas County tourism.
That quantitative research was complemented by key stakeholder meetings, tourism trend monitoring, departmental engagement and input from community leadership across hospitality, sports, film, arts, environmental interests, public administration, elected officials and media.
HCP later expanded that research through a major Resident Perception Survey, engaging 1,300 Pinellas County residents to better understand attitudes toward tourism, its benefits, its challenges and how residents perceived the visitor economy in their own communities.
The research gave VSPC something more valuable than a snapshot of tourism performance. It provided insight into how the people who live, work, govern and do business throughout Pinellas County experienced tourism differently. Those perspectives became the foundation for the strategy.
The research revealed that the future of tourism could not be measured by visitation alone.
HCP worked with VSPC to establish a series of shared objectives and key performance indicators that expanded the organization’s role beyond traditional destination marketing toward destination stewardship.
That evolution incorporated community engagement, destination management, business development and targeted marketing while recognizing the importance of sustainable growth, environmental and social responsibility, quality of place and the balance between the quantity and quality of visitors.
A crucial component was countywide alignment. Pinellas County encompasses 24 municipalities, each with its own leadership, identity, assets, residents and priorities. HCP’s strategic planning process recognized that the county could not maximize tourism’s value through isolated efforts.
The plan therefore emphasized stronger collaboration among leadership across all 24 municipalities, creating a more connected tourism network in which communities throughout Pinellas County could contribute to — and benefit from — the visitor economy.
Community engagement was equally important. The strategy recognized the need to help residents understand how tourism contributes to jobs, infrastructure, cultural enrichment and the broader economy while ensuring that community perspectives remained part of the conversation about tourism’s future.
The result was a strategy designed not simply to attract visitors, but to strengthen the destination itself.
The five-year strategic plan became a roadmap for action rather than a document that sat on a shelf.
HCP continued working with VSPC on support initiatives and the development and refinement of departmental KPIs, including measures related to visitor expenditure, job creation and community engagement. Those measures gave VSPC a framework for monitoring progress and adapting to changing tourism conditions.
HCP subsequently worked with VSPC and Pinellas County leadership to restructure the Screen Industry Incentive Program, one of the strategic initiatives connected to the broader planning effort.
HCP provided consulting and recommendations to develop a new program framework informed by public sentiment and industry needs, including a new departmental structure designed to help facilitate and incentivize film production opportunities throughout Pinellas County.
Importantly, the program was structured to work across the county’s municipalities, once again translating the plan’s emphasis on countywide collaboration into an operational initiative. The strategic plan had become a platform for continued decision-making and organizational change.
For a destination organization, marketing remains essential. But HCP’s work helped broaden the conversation from simply promoting St. Pete/Clearwater to communicating the value of tourism itself.
Resident research helped VSPC better understand where support existed, where concerns remained and how tourism’s economic and community benefits could be communicated more effectively.
That insight complemented VSPC’s broader efforts to demonstrate how visitor spending supports local businesses, employment, infrastructure, cultural assets and communities throughout Pinellas County.
Rather than separating destination marketing from community engagement, the strategic framework recognized that the two increasingly depend on one another. A destination residents value is a destination visitors want to experience.
Developed a five-year strategic plan for the future of tourism throughout Pinellas County.
Conducted first-party research including an online stakeholder survey, community sentiment survey, and industry and visitor market analysis.
Engaged leadership and stakeholders spanning hospitality, sports, film, arts, environmental interests, public administration, elected officials and media.
Conducted a subsequent Resident Perception Survey involving 1,300 Pinellas County residents.
Helped VSPC expand its strategic focus from destination marketing toward destination marketing and destination stewardship.
Established strategic objectives encompassing community engagement, destination management, business development and targeted marketing.
Developed and refined departmental KPIs measuring areas including visitor expenditure, job creation and community engagement.
Built collaboration across leadership representing Pinellas County’s 24 municipalities into the strategic planning framework.
Incorporated sustainable growth, environmental and social responsibility, quality of place and resident well-being into the destination strategy.
Continued helping VSPC implement strategic-plan initiatives after completion of the plan.
Helped restructure the Screen Industry Incentive Program, developing recommendations and a new framework informed by public sentiment and industry needs.
Developed a departmental structure designed to facilitate film-production opportunities throughout Pinellas County and its municipalities.
The future of tourism cannot be defined by visitor numbers alone.
For Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, developing a five-year vision meant listening to the people who experience tourism from every perspective: residents, visitors, hospitality businesses, community organizations, industry leaders, elected officials and municipal leadership throughout Pinellas County.
Research created the evidence. Stakeholder engagement created the buy-in. Strategic planning created the roadmap. And continued implementation demonstrated something even more important: the plan was built to be used.
By helping VSPC evolve from thinking primarily about destination marketing toward a broader model of destination stewardship, HCP helped create a framework that considers not only how many people visit Pinellas County, but how tourism can strengthen the communities they come to experience.
The strongest destinations aren’t simply marketed well. They’re managed, understood and supported by the communities that make them worth visiting.
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