<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3P4rHl_0pG0Qahd00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3P4rHl_0pG0Qahd00" width="1200" height="675" >LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Massive marketing giant, “Visit Florida” is touring Lee County beaches over the next couple of days to get a close-up look at recovery efforts 13 months after <a href="https://nbc-2.com/?s=Hurricane+Ian">Hurricane Ian</a>. The CEO and president, Dana Young, said the goal is to figure out what message the organization wants to put out about Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva to bring people back to our shorelines. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>With few restaurants back open and buildings still in ruins on Fort Myers Beach, some don’t know if the area is ready for the national spotlight. “Occupancy is the tough part,” said Steven Misener, a Fort Myers Beach resident. “Cause some of the places aren’t fully recovered yet… some of them are, some of them are not, can they get a place and where are they going to be able to find entertainment like they used to? That’s the hard part.”Misener lost his home to Ian and also his job. He is one of the roughly 5,000 people getting help from the food pantry every month, made possibly by the non-profit FMB Strong.“There’s a lot of things I can’t do anymore. I used to deliver food on the beach,” said Misener. “Most of the places don’t have delivery.”<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>Some places that are open on Fort Myers Beach, like Doc Ford’s, are busy with customers.“There’s just not a lot of places to go right now,” said Bryan Cruz, a bartender at Doc Ford’s. “I have all the confidence in the world that the beach is going to be back better than ever..” Dana Young, CEO and president of Visit Florida, said her visit to the beaches will help them create the foundation for a strategic marketing plan to bring tourism back.“I want to get a feel for what is open and then start getting that message out so we can then start building on that in the next year or two or however long it takes to get up to full occupancy,” said Young. “I know there’s a long way to go, especially on Fort Myers Beach.”Young toured Margaritaville on Tuesday. Wednesday morning she will be part of a roundtable discussion with local tourism leaders from all over Southwest Florida.<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Massive marketing giant, “Visit Florida” is touring Lee County beaches over the next couple of days to get a close-up look at recovery efforts 13 months after Hurricane Ian. The CEO and president, Dana Young, said the goal is to figure out what...