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If staycation is a trend, it is not very visible in the Gulf Coast attraction industry.
Still, many are preparing and hoping for it, with special promotions to lure local and regional travelers.
Some, such as Busch Gardens in Tampa, have eyes on the important summer travel season, a time when families take vacations.
“For staycationing, it's difficult for us to see quite yet,” says Nick Gollattscheck, director of marketing and communication for Busch and Sea World. “It's too early to tell if it will happen in the summer.”
But Busch is getting prepared. During the winter and spring, Busch has had several promotions for local residents, including live music, fun card admission discounts and barbecues.
It has other promotions planned for the summer to keep visitors coming. Among them is Summer Nights, a fireworks display, and “Pick Two,” an admission discount card to two of its theme parks.
This might be attractive to Florida residents from places a few hours drive away, such as Fort Myers, Miami and Jacksonville, Gollattscheck says. The company ran the same promotion last year when gasoline and air fares spiked.
“It's in response to giving Florida residents a good value,” he says.
Selby Jungle Gardens in Sarasota has seen a few more local visitors, but the attraction still sees a strong international following, says Gil Lee, marketing assistant with Selby Jungle Gardens.
Although Selby's memberships are slightly down, attendance is stable. The variety of the attraction, which included art exhibits, research, conservation and education programs, helps, Lee says.
“We're trending better than most attractions,” Lee says. Selby has done membership drives and discounted memberships and used an online discount coupon.
The Florida Aquarium, in downtown Tampa, normally sees a 50-50 split between local and out-of-town visitors and that breakdown has remained the same this year, with a slight shift toward more local visitors, says Tom Walker, public relations manager for the aquarium.
Spring break brought a lot of out-of-town visitors. “We saw a lot of people from the Northeast,” Walker says.
To broaden its audience and bring some visitors back, the aquarium has used its limited marketing budget to publicize the different activities visitors can do, like diving into a tank, or taking their children to the outside play areas.
“We're not just a place to see fish,” he says.
The primary research tool for visitors at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is independent monthy exit surveys. The percentage of local and regional visitors from the greater Tampa Bay area ranges consistently from 65% to 75%. That has held steady this year.
“We have not seen any dramatic fluctuations in the current economic environment,” says Rachel Nelson, director of public relations '¨for the zoo.
The zoo's 2009 spring break attendance exceeded 2008 spring break attendance by 38%. It's possible this means more local residents stayed home for spring break this year, but there are other factors to consider, such as weather and value. The zoo's admission price is lower than bigger attractions. The zoo also routinely offers discounts and special promotions through advertising.
For those local residents who stay closer to home this summer, the zoo is planning to introduce a summer family fun pass for June through August.
Walker says that staycation is definitely a buzzword in the industry, but he wonders if the additional local visitors would even out the fewer out-of-towners.
“That seems like a logical conclusion,” he says.
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