TAMPA, Fla. — Visit Tampa Bay has launched a new campaign to attract visitors to local breweries called "Bay Crafted."
Santiago Corrada, President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, said the Tampa Bay area has the largest craft beer scene in the state.
"The Tampa Bay Area has the largest concentration of beer breweries in the state of Florida and we’ve had beer for a long time. If you go back to Busch Gardens, Florida brewing company in the 1800s," said Santiago Corrada, President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay.
The campaign, which launched in August, is a way to generate interest and drive new visitors to Tampa Bay. Visitors and locals may sign up for the Bay Crafted Pass, a mobile pass.
Participants enter their name, email and phone number to receive a text message prompting them to save their pass on their home screen for easy access. They can visit participating businesses and check in for a chance to win prizes.
"Then you can come into our visitor information center and get prices so for so many visits you get a pint glass, for so many visits you get a T-shirt that says "Drink beer here." You can get a cookbook or a cocktail book," said Corrada.
BarrieHaus Beer Co. is one of the micro-breweries participating in the campaign. The company recently won the Gold medal in the World Beer Cup Competition for its Vienna-style lager known as "Family Tradition."
"We're hosting a big party, invited the silver and bronze medalists out in August, August 20, a big party and kind of celebrate Vienna loggers. It's kind of the Olympics of beer," said Brittney Barrie with BarrieHaus Beer Co. "We make everything on site and then distribute around Tampa Bay as well as Orlando, Miami, a little bit in Georgia, and North Carolina."
Corrada said Visit Tampa Bay expects to hit a record-setting year in tourism, exceeding 2019.
"We'll end somewhere between $951 million and a billion dollars in hotel revenue compared to $699 back in our best year, 2019, so the numbers are extremely strong," said Corrada.
For more information on the campaign, visit https://www.visittampabay.com/baycrafted/.
