Airport, The Holy Grail?

There's been a small but steady trickle of European vacationers into the area for years. All you've got to do is listen for a while out at Silver Sands and you can suss them out. But they seem to be the people who heard about the place through some sort of NATO chatter, are friends of Raimund Hernden, or are looking for a vacation spot off the beaten path.

The current gate space and runway length at PCB is ample enough now to handle much larger aircraft. Airlines have flown much larger planes at times into PCB than they currently use and could again at any time. The problem is not one of size of airport, it is lack of demand to fly to PCB that dictates the small aircraft size used in the market. (Same for Ft Walton)Flyguy

The experts disagree with you regarding the runway length. I apparently can NOT handle larger aircraft.

This building is exactly what the Orlando Jetport Terminal Building looked like 25 years ago. That was the entire shooting match. Chickpea, unless you count theme parks as culture, your theory may be in trouble. Orlando is overrun by foreign tourists. Until global warming starts frying Northern Europe, those pink Brits and Germans will seek out the cheap date that is Florida.

Hey Bob,
Funny comment about pink Brits and Germans!!! :rolling: Orlando yes - Sowal - doubtful in the short term. Florida I know is very popular - I lived in Miami for 4 years and saw firsthand the crazy numbers of European travelers but IMHO it will really be years and years and years before they come here in significant numbers - there just is not enough to attract them in large numbers (and that is a good thing!!!)

Hey Bob,
Funny comment about pink Brits and Germans!!! :rolling: Orlando yes - Sowal - doubtful in the short term. Florida I know is very popular - I lived in Miami for 4 years and saw firsthand the crazy numbers of European travelers but IMHO it will really be years and years and years before they come here in significant numbers - there just is not enough to attract them in large numbers (and that is a good thing!!!)

I agree. Mention Florida in Europe and all you hear is "Disney" or "Miami/South Beach". There is no reason for them to travel further yet. But I'm guessing at some point the Panhandle Gulf Coast is marketed as the "American Riviera" not only in Europe but everywhere else. And it may work.

Do you think WACO Ramblers will don black turtlenecks and jam with some technosynth?:funn:

I consistently golf with a European group of 25-50 Brits/Scots, all of whom can afford any real estate in Florida, but chose Central Florida for it's amenities and easy access by international airport. Most of this well to do group have limited knowledge of the panhandle, and would no doubt enjoy the same venue we all cherish here. Time will certainly tell, but I believe the first wave will begin after the airport is finished and will swell by word of mouth.

I consistently golf with a European group of 25-50 Brits/Scots, all of whom can afford any real estate in Florida, but chose Central Florida for it's amenities and easy access by international airport. Most of this well to do group have limited knowledge of the panhandle, and would no doubt enjoy the same venue we all cherish here. Time will certainly tell, but I believe the first wave will begin after the airport is finished and will swell by word of mouth.

Yes. At the present time, many Americans have limited knowledge of the panhandle.
When we told our Colorado friends where we were moving, they had no understanding of the climate, terrain, etc. Florida is all Miami/Disney to them.
There is an airline, Flyglobespan, whose route is designed strictly for Brit (or other European) tourists.
It regularly flies Glasgow>Sanford/Orlando. This is how our kid got home from France last year; his ticket was dirt cheap, he was the only American on board.
I agree with Beachmouse that as it stands now, the panhandle is more for Euros who look to get off the beaten Spain/France/Greece package-deal path.
Time will indeed tell, but I am still shaking my head in amazement over the fact that two 30-something Belgians could find PSJ.

Bob, is the girl in the picture is trying to take a close up of her teeth to see if she has any spinach stuck in them?

Bob, is the girl in the picture is trying to take a close up of her teeth to see if she has any spinach stuck in them?

Nah, I think she's an overseas tourist who was so excited about the cost of the camera that she threw away the box and instruction manual. It's very easy for knuckleheads to get ahead of themselves.

Bush will never see the Ivory Billed Woodpecker that way.

Airport or no airport, development is jsut getting started in the panhandle and it won't slow down until it looks like the peninsula. It's not just the airport that will be bringing millions of people here, it will be roads, schools, hospitals, conference centers, cruise ships, gambling, theme parks . . . the list goes on.

It's a bit shortsighted to talk only of an airport, but it is a large part of building momentum, whether it's justified or not, as perception often becomes reality.

Excellent point Kurt! You are 100% on the money!:rolling:

I agree. Mention Florida in Europe and all you hear is "Disney" or "Miami/South Beach". There is no reason for them to travel further yet. But I'm guessing at some point the Panhandle Gulf Coast is marketed as the "American Riviera" not only in Europe but everywhere else. And it may work.

I agree. My mother lived in the British Riviera for a while, and I have had other family live in Europe for extended times. They will come here.
This area does have a culture. It is distinctly Southern.

My experience has been they just eat up all things American. With the proper marketing and word of mouth, eventually they will find their way here and try this as opposed to Tenerife Spain, Barbados and the like.
Not saying they will come here in droves at the mere mention of a direct flight to PCB, but if there is one, eventually it will happen.

(and no Skunky, the WACO's will not have to dress like the Beatles. :lol:)

I would love to see a direct flight to the area from New York, but being a life long New Yorker, I can not see it attracting little more than spring breakers to PCB. New Yorkers are rather clanish in respect to where they congregate in Florida. I am not totally convinced it is just because those areas are easy to get to via Jet Blue.

But I do see Europeans as more open minded, and I can see the attraction to coming to this area for them.

Bush will never see the Ivory Billed Woodpecker that way.

GW is looking at his future.

I seem to remember that there have been multiple TDC-sponsored trips where they've brought Northeastern US and UK travel journalists and travel industry players down to the area. So the local TDCs have been trying to go beyond the South for business for a while now.

The thing you've got to remember when you're reaching out to potential visitors outside the South is to target spring and fall. Winter down here is unpredicatable and can be out and out cold, and here isn't somewhere you want to go that time of year if you're only talking a week's vacation. (The snowbirds are here long enough that the really lousy weather averages out with the warmer weeks) And summer, people already have long-established summer beach spots that are not likely to change. Someone in Chicago is still going to hit Saugatuck or Charlevoix because it's much closer, and frankly the summer weather along Lake Michigan is much, much nicer than summer weather in Florida.

But there's still excess capacity here during the spring break season, and even more during the lovely fall months. Maybe run some last minute specials programs during September since the weather is most likely to be iffy, and then really go after the Autumn Tides whatever for October and November because not everyone wants to spend their vacation on yet another leaf color tour.