Visit Panama City Beach recently announced that they were the recipient of five 2020 Flagler awards, including three Henry awards, which are given to the highest scoring entry in each category. At the awards ceremony, Visit Panama City Beach was awarded the Henry in the Sustainable Tourism Marketing category for the Stay it Forward voluntourism campaign, the Websites category for the new visitpanamcitybeach.com website and the Niche Marketing category for ‘Chasin’ The Sun.’ The destination was also presented with two bronze awards in the Social Media category for its How do you PCB? campaign and the Mobile Marketing category for its Zynga campaign.
“We are honored to receive these awards, which serve as a testament to the hard work and creativity of our Visit Panama City Beach team,” says Visit Panama City Beach President and CEO Dan Rowe. “We are especially grateful to be awarded the Henry for this year’s new category of Sustainable Tourism Marketing. While we are facing new challenges, we are confident that these campaigns, amongst others, will lead our destination towards a successful future.”
Earlier this year, Visit Panama City Beach launched its Stay It Forward campaign after recognizing the growing popularity in sustainable tourism. Following Hurricane Michael devastating hit to neighboring Mexico Beach in October 2018, Visit Panama City Beach was given the opportunity to provide a unique voluntourism offering, allowing visitors to travel to Mexico Beach for a day to help restore the destination’s dunes by planting sea oats and rebuilding dune paths. Since launching, more than 150 volunteers from across the country have planted over 5,000 sea oats, and the campaign has resulted in over 130 million media impressions.
The Flagler Awards program was created by VISIT FLORIDA to honor the countless individuals and organizations that help position Florida as the No. 1 travel destination in the world. Visit Panama City Beach’s President and CEO, Dan Rowe, serves as the 2020-2021 Chair of the Visit Florida board and assisted with this year’s awards ceremony.
