Tourism bureau wins prestigious Silver Flagler award

For its efforts to help sustain travel and tourism to the area in the wake of the 2024 hurricane season, Visit Sarasota County has won the Silver Flagler award for its rebranded annual meeting, the Indicators & Insights Summit, which brought together more than 100 hospitality leaders in fall 2024.

Given during the recent 2025 Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Orlando, last year’s annual summit pivoted from its scheduled program to provide travel insights, recovery forecasts and an opportunity to unite and rally as an industry sector.

Named after Henry Flagler, regarded as the “Father of Florida Tourism” according to a media release, the Flagler Awards is an annual statewide program hosted by Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing organization. Each award is selected by a panel of industry judges and evaluated based on the campaign’s quality, effectiveness and creativity.

“We're grateful to our industry peers across the state – and especially within our community – for believing tourism matters and welcoming our summit into this esteemed hall of fame,” said VSC President and CEO Erin Duggan in the news release. “Ensuring our more than 500 partners have the insights needed to tap into tourism, our community’s top industry, remains paramount to our mission and this accolade from Visit Florida only further helps us advance our efforts and strengthen pride in place.” 

Visit Sarasota County will again host its Indicators & Insights Summit on Nov. 18, with a focus on how tourism works for local businesses. This year’s program will also include the tourism bureau’s Haley Hall of Fame Award, which will honor seven regional hospitality movers and shakers. 

The half-day Summit will be held at the Carlisle Inn from 8 a.m. to noon p.m. and tickets are available to business leaders and residents at https://bit.ly/2025VSCsummit.