The year is winding down, and while many are easing into the season, we’re already gearing up for what’s next. Our Share the Sunshine winter campaign is in full swing, with paid media, PR, and digital efforts continuing to highlight Sarasota County as the place to be for sunshine-filled getaways and cultural escapes.

As we reflect on 2025, we’re so grateful for the engagement and support from our partners—you helped shape a successful year of storytelling, campaigns, and destination impact. From sharing your events and milestones to submitting fresh content and collaborating on initiatives, your involvement made all the difference.

Now, we’re setting our sights on 2026 with fresh energy, bold ideas, and a continued focus on showcasing what makes Sarasota County unforgettable. We can’t wait to keep building on this momentum together.

~Your Marketing and Partnership Teams

You already have a listing on VisitSarasota.com… so why not feature it and put your business at the very top of its category pages all year long?

For 2026, you can secure a Featured Business Listing for just $795 — a limited-time 20% discount. This zero-lift placement keeps your listing pinned in the highest-visibility position on pages where travelers are actively deciding where to stay, eat, shop, and explore.

It’s one of the simplest, most cost-effective ways to stand out on a site visited by millions of Sarasota-bound travelers each year. If you’re already listed, upgrading to Featured status is truly a no-brainer.

To reserve your Featured Listing for 2026, email sales@visitsarasota.org or reserve via online form here.

New Year, New Adventures

Are you launching a new exhibit, rolling out a fresh menu, hosting a winter event, or just leveling up in 2026? Let us know!

Share images or videos for a chance to be featured on our social channels.

Why FAQs Matter More Than Ever

AI Overviews and AI-powered trip tools are increasingly answering traveler questions before they ever click a website. Adding clear, well-written FAQs directly to pages of your website helps ensure your business information is pulled accurately—and can influence whether travelers choose to visit or book (think parking, reservations, tickets, or check-in times).

1. Sound like a person, not a bot

Write answers the way you’d explain something to a visitor in person—friendly, clear, and reassuring.

Instead of: “Is parking available?” → “Yes.”
Try: “Where can I park when I arrive?” followed by a helpful explanation of where to go and what to expect.

2. Use complete natural questions

Write questions exactly how a traveler would ask them in search or an AI tool. Full questions help search platforms understand and surface your content more accurately.

Example: “How long should I plan to spend here?”

3. Let your visitors write your FAQs for you

Pull questions from emails, reviews, social messages, and booking inquiries. If it’s asked often, about weather, accessibility, timing, or reservations, it belongs on your website.

Example: “What time is check-in and check-out?”

4. Make it easy for search tools to recognize your FAQs

Using FAQ schema markup helps search engines and AI tools identify your content as FAQs, which can improve how your answers appear in search results and AI Overviews. For those working with a web developer, Google provides guidance on FAQ schema markup here.

Adding a FAQ section to the most visited pages of your website can provide both travelers and AI Overviews with the answers they are looking for! Check out how we use them on our Winter Landing Page.

Sarasota Shines in the Spotlight – November PR Highlights

National

National PR Coverage generated 800M+ impressions, with coverage highlighting:

Venice’s character

NYE Pineapple Drop

Longboat Key’s island appeal

Seasonal experiences at Marie Selby Gardens and Myakka River State Park.

Doubletree By Hilton Sarasota Bradenton Airport

Sarasota Beaches

Tamiami Trail Spotlight

Siesta Key

Owen’s Fish Camp

The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota

Top-tier placements in Fodor’s Travel, Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Southern Living (with Yahoo Life and AOL syndication), along with organic features in Good Housekeeping, U.S. News & World Report, Flamingo Magazine, and WorldAtlas, reinforced Sarasota County’s relevance across travel and lifestyle audiences.

 

International

International coverage for UK and Germany generated 5M+ impressions, spotlighting Sarasota’s culinary scene, winter travel appeal, cultural assets, and evolving hospitality offerings.

Partners & Places enjoying the spotlight in the UK:

Yugen Restaurant (UTC)

Siesta Key

Owen’s Fish Camp

Sheltair Aviation (Sarasota Bradenton Airport)

Partners & Places enjoying the spotlight in Germany:

Sarasota County (Includes Celery Fields and Lemon Bay Park)

Sarasota Modern

 

 

Local Media

Our Partnership & Sports teams pitch local journalists, freelancer writers, and publications to strengthen understanding and appreciation for Sarasota County's powerhouse tourism industry among residents and local businesses alike.

VSC's November local coverage spanned AVA chauffeuring around The Grinch ahead of his debut at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, to competition season returning to TerraNova, staff promotions, and, of course, to our own peak tourism season beginning to ramp up – with stories relaying our latest tourism data with anticipation for what’s ahead. Our President & CEO, Erin Duggan, authored her monthly op-ed in SRQ Magazine on The Local Bite campaign supporting area restaurants.

November Local PR by the Numbers: 19 stories, garnered 4.4 million impressions.

Top Local Stories

Visit Sarasota County expands leadership team with two promotions

Is Sarasota tourism down despite no hurricanes so far this year? Here’s what we know

Grinch Spotted in Sarasota and Manatee Counties Ahead of Van Wezel Performances – Scene Sarasota

As Season Returns, So Does the Power of Tourism in Sarasota County - SRQ Daily Op-Ed by Erin Duggan

Competition season leaps into action at TerraNova Equestrian Center

Seven honored for contributions to Sarasota's tourism industry | Your Observer

 

Don’t forget to tell us your story at pitchus@visitsarasota.com

Recent digital and print ads. Learn More about our Winter Campaign.

This year, thanks to new funding, we are utilizing a platform called Zartico to analyze visitor movement and spend. These insights along with data from our research firm, Downs and St. Germain, will give us a deeper understanding of our visitor and help us market to them more effectively. 

In November 2025:

*Data from Zartico comes from a sample size of credit card spending and cell phone geolocation data. To be considered a visitor for credit card spend data, the billing zip code needs to be out of the area. For location data, it is where the cell phone has been overnight the most in the last 30 days (it's home location). 

This email goes to everyone on the Marketing and Communications team to keep us in the loop of all the great things you are doing!