GREATER FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – January 18, 2008 – Luxury hits the beach in Greater Fort Lauderdale. And its new marketing direction displays this in earnest.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) has introduced a series of new luxury marketing tools in a dedicated push to showcase its relatively young high-end product, including upscale hotels, fine dining and high-end leisure pursuits from boutique shopping to luxury yacht charters.

"Greater Fort Lauderdale has done its share of niche marketing over our two-decade transformation – multicultural, gay, golf – but a collection of truly luxurious offerings isn't something that we could have boasted even five years ago," said Nicki E. Grossman, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. "The destination's luxury infrastructure now has evolved to the point where we can place similar efforts into wooing luxury travelers. The significantly ramped up marketing efforts really say one thing: luxury has arrived in Greater Fort Lauderdale."

For starters, Greater Fort Lauderdale's luxury product now has its own cyber-home: www.sunny.org/luxe. The new "Lauderdale Luxe" microsite features lounge-style music from sunny.org radio and has dedicated categories for hotels, including upscale brands such as St. Regis, Starwood and Hyatt currently open; dining, where consumers can get the scoop on the finest culinary experiences, such as dockside dining along the Intracoastal Waterway; and a "pursuits" section that showcases Greater Fort Lauderdale's beyond-the-beach casual sophistication: spa suggestions, vibrant nightlife, high-end shopping and more.

The GFLCVB's new luxury marketing efforts coincide with its www.sunny.org/win microsite, which showcases the destination's high-end versatility by inviting consumers to build their own dream vacation to Greater Fort Lauderdale. Users have the chance to win the vacation they built just by taking part in the exercise. The microsite also helps build the GFLCVB's database of target customers – younger, relatively affluent and looking for more out of a beach destination than sand and surf.

Traditional media have not been ignored. The GFLCVB has created an eight-page "Chic Hits the Beach" booklet that is being inserted into three luxury travel magazines – in January and February. Created in an inviting editorial style, the inserts feature similar content to the Lauderdale Luxe webpage and encourage readers to visit the microsite. In addition, two new 30-second television spots debut January 19. The advertisements will run on national networks including CNN, A&E, CNBC, Lifetime, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, Travel Channel and Food Network, as well as in some 20 key tourism feeder markets such as New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C.

"As Greater Fort Lauderdale continues to grow as a destination, so do the ways that we're able to market it," said Grossman. "We're able to divvy the destination up into niche categories and promote it to special interest groups – to divide and conquer, so to speak – all under the brand of a casually sophisticated destination whose upscale renaissance is ongoing. Luxury is the latest of these niches we've been able to assemble and showcase, and one that will only continue to expand from here."

Ms. Grossman has been one of Greater Fort Lauderdale's most influential architects of change. Since assuming the top spot at the GFLCVB in 1995, she has been instrumental in continuing Greater Fort Lauderdale's transition from a Spring Break haven to a year-round vacation spot whose upscale climb has been steady and significant. Ms. Grossman has helped build the destination's business along the way. She has taken leadership roles in such projects as the expansion of the now-600,000-square-foot Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center and creatively steered the destination's marketing efforts to form programs such as "Summer of Discovery," which promotes the off-peak summer season, and "Dine Out Lauderdale," a six-week-long restaurant promotion showcasing Greater Fort Lauderdale's eclectic culinary scene. In 2006, Greater Fort Lauderdale welcomed a record 10.35 million visitors, and the county's hospitality sector accounts for some 119,000 jobs – making it the county's largest industry.

01/2008