As we all wonder how the new airport and having Southwest Airlines as our low cost carrier will effect Panama City Beach, members of the TDC along with Lou Hammond Agency have teamed up with Southwest to go well beyond speculation and into some serious action. Don’t believe me, check out this new Southwest Airlines ad and tell me when was the last ad you saw from SW that actually names the city?
The TDC has hit all the fly markets in Houston, Baltimore, Nashville and Orlando branding Panama City Beach as an undiscovered beach community. In fact, the tag line on much of the in-flight print advertising reads “17 Hidden Beaches, 1 Revealing Destination” written in the white sands of Northwest Florida Beaches.
The marketing campaign expands far larger than anything Panama City Beach has ventured to do in past campaigns, including TV air time in places like Good Morning America, Fox Business, Great Day Houston and Tennessee Mornings as well as regional newspapers like Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal and even New York Times. Check out this awesome article from the Tennessean.
From the looks of it, the TDC is doing its job. Those who believe the new airports effects on Panama City Beach will be minor, please note that the people in charge are putting in long hours to make sure the opposite is true.
PCBDaily 
Just heard a commercial this morning – it’s all so exciting! Not only will this be great for bringing people to us here in Panama City Beach, it’s going to be a wonderful opportunity for locals to visit family and friends all over the country without breaking the bank. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for another airline to start offering non-stop flights to London and Europe from PCB!
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The airport was the best thing to happen to PCB. Only the small aircraft were able to serve the old beaten down airport. Delta was one of the only “major” airlines to make sure it served this community. Now that this new airport has been constructed….many airlines will come and enjoy our beautiful beaches, and yes…they will come! SWA is not “the” low cost carrier….just remember that.
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So happy when I saw this commercial in Chicago during the televising of the NBA playoffs!
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Awesome!!! nice ad…can’t wait for this to open…we love to travel! Looking for great deals!
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Very excited!!!! But we must have special rates to South Florida!!!! That’s what I’m waiting for.
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It’s time for PCB to get out of the Spring Break business and into being a true 12 month per year higher class family tourist destination. Southwest and the new airport will take us there. The Seabreeze Jazz Festival was a tremendous success and we thank PCB, PIER PARK and the promoters for doing such a great job to bring us the talent they did.
PCB has a negative reputation througout the country because of the spring break horror stories. It’s time to send the kids packing.
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Chris, apparently you don’t realize that Spring Break accounts for probably half of the business on the beach, and it going away would be detrimental to all of Bay County. A slong as therr are hotels, motels, and condo units, the spring breakers will continue to come here.
People that picture a place based on 6 weeks out of a 52 week calendar are really painting with a broad brush and obviously have no clue what the rest of the time is like. A balance can be struck, but PCB can’t afford to lose the spring breakers, or the area could see serious consequences, i.e. business closures and more.
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Justin,
Apparently, you were the kid in math class who never really “got it.” Try to imagine 30 weeks of heads in beds (instead of 6 weeks), but the heads weren’t filled with lust and beer; they were eating in restaurants, shopping, recreating, etc., instead of cramming 10 people in a room and buying beer and chips. Try to imagine how much more money families would spend and how much money hotel/condo owners would save not having to rebuild rooms after spring.
The potential Notre Dame football star who fell to his death in Panama City Beach is a tragedy for his family and PCB. Especially when he was underage and with a church group. After that, if you were head of a church group, or other youth group, would you bring your flock to PCB?
PCB is a great family alternative to more “liberal” destinations like Miami or New Orleans.
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Try as you may, the spring breakers will never totally leave. Oh, and exactly what was that student doing when he feel off a balcony, and how is that PCB’s fault and not the church group’s for not watching after their “flock”? I mean really, you’re projecting an image of the WHOLE beach on a handfull of weeks out of a much larger number that make up a full year with a lot less issues. Honestly, the summer isn’t much better, how many drunks are out and about on an average summer night causing trouble?
I go to PCB for myself, and what other people do is honestly none of my business if it doesn’t directly affect me, my family, and friends and our well-being.
Lastly, last time I checked, spring breakers also eat, recreate, shop, etc. just like anybody else. You’re trying to say PCB is bad because they allow spring breakers, well, the city has no way to enforce a “No Spring Breakers” policy, but can enact laws when they are out in public or causing harm to property and/or persons. If you truly think PCB is bad because of a handful of weeks out of the year, then you have completely lost your mind and honestly need to go somewhere else with your nonsense.
Oh, btw, “cute” website.
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Justin, Justin, Justin. Whoa! Slow down. You can still spend your spring break anyway you want, within the law, even if PCB stops encouraging Spring Break as you know it now. Don’t be so agressively negative! Perhaps what other people do doesn’t directly affect you and isn’t any of your business. However, when actions of other people cause negative press and influence law-abiding, well-heeled tourists to stay away from PCB, then those actions DO affect those of us with a stake in the community and, therefore, IS our business. To think otherwise is naive at best. Please try to imagine that the action of expressing opinions on this website is similar to the actions of drunken kids during spring break and continue to feel that it’s honestly none of your business and doesn’t directly affect you. Then you may feel calmer.
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