ANNA MARIA – During the Manatee County Tourist Development Council’s (TDC) June 10 meeting at The Center of Anna Maria Island, TDC members supported more marketing efforts for the Gulf Island Ferry.
The service runs from downtown Bradenton to the Anna Maria City Pier and the Bradenton Beach Pier. TDC member and Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione gave the TDC an update on how the ferry service is progressing.
“It’s been exciting. I think our communications manager rode out to the Island yesterday and the ferry was full,” Falcione said. “We’re doing really well with the water ferry running Wednesday through Sunday, and we’ll continue that through the month of June. The goal is to run it 12 months a year. We’ll see how that goes.”
Falcione said that Research Data Services, which provides the TDC with tourism data and statistics, said that a Memorial Day survey of beachgoers showed 60% were aware of the ferry. He said they are still learning month-by-month through surveys. He told his staff that they should be in the public’s face in the region with tourists, then requested an additional $75,000 from tourist tax funds for marketing the water ferry. Falcione said some of that money would be for a local survey and a brand awareness campaign that would give the ferry a push through the end of summer into fall.
“My wife and I live at the end of the dock in Bradenton, and we sit and look out the window and wait for the water ferry to come back,” Bradenton Mayor and TDC member Gene Brown said. “It is unbelievable to us because it’s a 49-seat boat, and we see 49 people get off and 49 people get on.”
The motion to approve the recommendation for the $75,000 was passed unanimously and will be forwarded to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners for final approval.
