Southwest Florida

Sit back, relax and enjoy your meeting. It's impossible not to on Florida's tranquil southwest coast, where the landscape is framed by a tableau of islands and Everglades,  urban bustle is replaced by urbane flair, and historic downtown districts are best explored on foot, with frequent detours into antique shops and sidewalk cafes.

"We get a lot of people who want to come over just to get it away from it all, and that applies to planners, too," says Jack Wert, executive director of the Greater Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB. "I think we have a special niche in the meetings market, going after the small to midsize groups, corporate retreats and that type of thing. We're not in competition with the 'big boys' for the huge conventions."

If "huge" and "convention" aren't together on your agenda either, the easygoing towns and vast wilderness tracts of Southwest Florida just might fit the bill.


Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades

With a beautiful bay reminiscent of its Italian namesake, Naples feels a bit like Europe with its outdoor cafes, art galleries and designer shopping, but the rest is pure Florida—year-round golf, fresh seafood at every turn, sugar-sand beaches, and minutes away, the otherworldly beauty of the Everglades, the only subtropical preserve in North America. Just north of the Gulf entrance to Everglades National Park is the resort enclave of Marco Island, the largest of the Ten Thousand Islands that trail past Everglades City down to the southern tip of Florida's mainland, offering a haven for bird watchers, kayakers and fishing enthusiasts.

So it's only fitting that the area should call itself the "Paradise Coast," though there has been some recent trouble in paradise—namely, an unusually high number of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. The Naples area was never directly impacted by any of them, yet it suffered some fallout from the negative publicity nonetheless.

However, with a change in the weather coming in 2006—at press time, all's been quiet in the Sunshine State—tourism officials are seeing the numbers rebound.

"Our momentum is back," says Debi DeBenedetto, tourism sales and marketing manager for the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB. "It's like people were waiting to check the weather and are now booking fast and hard. I'm getting almost daily RFPs and meeting planner requests."

And as the meetings have picked up, so have enhancements at local convention hotels and resorts. The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, for example, recently unveiled the Beach House, a 3,000-square-foot, multiuse facility that can accommodate up to 120 for a sit-down dinner and 150 for cocktail receptions.

Meanwhile, the Marco Island Marriott Resort, Golf Club and Spa is nearing the end of a $150 million renovation that included a new spa, a redesigned golf course, ballroom renovations and coming this spring, a new golf clubhouse.

And look for a new mixed-use development: the Naples Bay Resort, slated to open on Naples Bay in fall 2007 with a hotel, resort cottages and 2,500 square feet of meeting and conference space.

While the resort-based meeting facilities are plentiful on the Paradise Coast—and include mainstay properties such as the Naples Grande Resort and Club, LaPlaya Beach and Golf Resort and the lovely boutique-style Inn on Fifth—planners can also count on a host of unique off-site venues for special events and breakout sessions. Among the many choices are the Lady Stirling, an 80-foot schooner offering team-building experiences and destination cruises for up to 49 people, and the Ngala private game reserve, where a huge canvas tent welcomes fabulous safari- or Everglades-themed group events of 20 to 500 people, while guests enjoy close encounters with giraffes, leopards, chimpanzees, and crocodiles.


Fort Myers and Sanibel

Great weather, increased airlift, hotel renovations, and a planned convention center expansion make the outlook for meetings as bright as the Gulf waters and sparkling sands in Fort Myers and Sanibel, set about 40 minutes north of the Naples area.

"With the airport adding new flights, that's huge for us and gives us more access, which is a great opportunity," says Mark Crabb, deputy director of the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau, marketing itself as the Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel.

Indeed, last fall's debut of Southwest Florida International Airport's new Midfield Terminal Complex—which replaced an existing 17-gate terminal building with 28 aircraft gates along three concourses—has been a major success, attracting new carriers like Southwest Airlines and boosting the frequency of others while setting all-time passenger records this August, according to airport figures.

Next up: an expansion at the area's signature convention facility, the Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers. Set along the Caloosahatchee River with "a view a lot of communities up north would kill for," Crabb says, the center currently offers 42,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space but could more than double its square footage in the next five to seven years.

Local hotels and resorts are keeping pace, and keeping the concept of meeting space paired with waterfront views and a tropical ambience. Options include Pink Shell Resort and Spa, home to a 2,300-square-foot ballroom and 3,500 square feet of all-new, multifunction space, plus a landscaped pool terrace and beachfront area for receptions; DiamondHead Beach Resort, where meeting facilities total 10,000 square feet; and the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs, featuring 73,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, including two ballrooms and a new lakeside pavilion with 11,000 square feet for special events.

Newly renovated and offering more than ever for groups are the bayside Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa and the beachside Sundial Beach and Golf Resort and South Seas Island Resort. All offer an extensive array of onsite recreation and a location that is minutes from attractions such as the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates and the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum.

"We have so many things to offer delegates," Crabb says. "Over and above that meeting, they can relax, enjoy, revitalize, and recharge while they're here."


Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands

Getting walloped by Hurricane Charley two years ago shifted more than trees and roof shingles in Charlotte County; it shifted the tourism bureau's focus from leisure to business travel.

"We're not yet a meeting destination," says Becky Bovell, director of the Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands Visitors Bureau, which represents Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda and other communities, "but the infrastructure to support this market is planned and will become a reality within two years."

The linchpin of this new marketing focus will be the $16.7 million Charlotte Harbor Events and Conference Center, scheduled to break ground before the end of this year on the site of the former Memorial Auditorium, an outdated facility whose demise was sealed by storm damage. In the meantime, meetings are being served by a 16,000-square-foot "tent-atorium," complete with hardwood floors, lighting, air conditioning, restroom facilities, and seating for 2,200.

Groups are also gathering at the Best Western Waterfront Hotel, which currently boasts the area's largest hotel meeting space, accommodating up to 400 people in four conference rooms.

The Best Western will be within walking distance of the new conference center, creating what Bovell hopes will be a "walkable waterfront community with new hotels and an eclectic variety of restaurants, offering an inviting meeting destination that we look forward to sharing with meeting planners," she says.

One thing that remains a constant for both leisure and business travelers: the county's pristine natural attractions, from the quiet beaches of Englewood, Manasota Key and Don Pedro Island State Park to wilderness areas like the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area, offering 79,000 protected acres for hiking, fishing, boating, and exploring.


For More Info

Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands Visitors Bureau      941.743.1900      www.charlotteharbortravel.com

Greater Naples, Marco Island Everglades CVB     239.403.2379    www.paradisecoast.com

Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau    239.338.3500    www.fortmyers-sanibel.com