On Monday, Visit Florida announced more than $850,000 is headed to the Panhandle to help parts of the Sunshine State hit by Hurricane Michael in October.
Visit Florida noted the money–which comes to $850,000–will go to promote tourism to parts of Florida still recovering from the hurricane.
“These grants have been awarded to the Panama City Community Development Council, the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Tourism Development Councils of Gulf, Jackson and Washington counties,” Visit Florida noted. “The funding was requested by these local tourism development boards and will benefit their targeted marketing efforts as they continue to rebuild and recover from Hurricane Michael.”
Former state Sen. Dana Young, the president and CEO of Visit Florida, weighed in on the funds on Monday. She will head to the Panhandle for meetings on tourism to the area later in the week.
“Part of Visit Florida’s mission is to help our communities when they need it the most. We are glad to provide this important funding to our local partners because they clearly understand what it takes to bring visitors back to their communities,” Young said. “Our organization will continue to find ways to support the Panhandle’s recovery from Michael, and we appreciate Governor DeSantis’ leadership in the recovery efforts.”
Three organizations–Panama City Community Development Council, Inc.; the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the Gulf County Tourist Development Council–will be getting $250,000 apiece.
Two other groups will also be getting funds. The Jackson County Tourist Development Council is penciled in for $60,000 while the Washington County Tourist Development Council will be getting $48,000.
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