Lee earns Florida's top tourism award

The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau earned a "Henry Award," the highest award for imaginative destination marketing at the 42nd annual Governor's Conference on Tourism Flagler Awards Competition.

The VCB has won 22 Henry Awards since the competition began in 1999. Sponsored by Visit Florida, the official marketing organization for Florida tourism and the Florida Commission on Tourism, the Flagler Awards program is designed to acknowledge the outstanding marketing achievements of the state's tourism-related businesses, destinations, attractions, and other entities.

In the competition's Web site category, the VCB was awarded for its campaign "Beach Brings Balance Instant-Win." The VCB uses this Web site to create as many points of contact with consumers as possible in order to close the loop, build brand loyalty and ultimately drive visitation. Check out this promotional Web site at www.beachbringsbalance.com .

The VCB was a finalist in three other categories including Internet marketing for The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel consumer e-mail campaign; Out-of- Home category for its container series outdoor campaign; and resource/promotional material — trade category, for its meeting and convention lead-generation program.

"We are thrilled to be acknowledged by Visit Florida and the tourism industry for our bureau's marketing efforts over the years," said VCB Executive Director Suya Davenport. "We commend the outstanding work of our staff, the VCB's advertising agency, BVK of Fort Myers and Miles Media."