Florida works to bring back tourism to its Gulf Coast following hurricanes Helene and Milton

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tourism officials on Florida’s Gulf Coast declare one of the ways concerned people can assist the area recover is to visit as tourists, even though some beaches are still closed to the community and debris is still piled next to streets from recent hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The tourism promotion agency for the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area said in a information release that 80% of hotels and businesses in the area are open for business, even as tidy-up and recovery continues.

“Many people have asked, ‘How can I assist?’ and the respond is this: arrive visit and back our local businesses when they require you most,” Visit St. Pete-Clearwater said Friday in the information release. “You can also pitch in at beach cleanups, attend fundraisers and donate.”

In Clearwater, officials declare the beach is open. They schedule to announce Tuesday that lifeguards and normal beach operations are returning, city spokeswoman Joelle Wiley Castelli said.

“People are starting to leave back out and into the water and it appears that about half the businesses and half the parking lots are back open,” she said Monday in an email.

Helene made landfall as a category 4 storm in Florida’s large Bend region last month, and Milton made landfall earlier this month as a category 3 hurricane on a barrier island in Sarasota County.

The state tourism promotion agency says it plans to spend $5.7 million to promote Florida as a tourism goal following the hurricanes.

The campaign’s first phase will focus on social media promotion of areas of Florida that were comparatively untouched by the storms, such as Pensacola, Panama City Beach and Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

The second phase will spend $3 million promoting areas impacted by the storms but already have recovered such as Naples and Fort Myers.

The last phase will propose direct marketing assistance to the counties most affected by the storms in the St. Petersburg and Sarasota areas, and rural areas in the Panhandle, according to Visit Florida.