Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/301152
The tourism bureau will spend $30,000 of the additional funding to research how visi- tors to Nathan Benderson Park spend their time and money in the community when they are not at rowing and other events hosted by the facility. The funding will also help market the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final and the USA Ultimate Masters Championships, which will be held here this summer. Those events — for which Visit Sarasota County had not planned — were awarded to the community over the winter. The Pentathlon announcement came as a result of lobbying by residents such as for- mer Congresswoman Katherine Harris. "We didn't have a clue about this a year ago, and it needs to be adver- tised," Hines said of the Pentathlon. R e g i o n a l s p o r t i n g events already have an estimated $90 mil- lion annual economic impact on the county, Haley pointed out. But Hines cautioned that while he supported the request for additional promotional and marketing money this year, in future bud- get years, he would like to see more of that A chart shows how Visit Sarasota County plans to divvy up the extra funding. Image courtesy Sarasota County T h o s e [ i n f r a s t r u c t u r e ] opportunities increase additional demand for hotels and rental cars. Joe Barbetta Commissioner Sarasota County Sarasota News Leader April 25, 2014 Page 14