BEACH AMBASSADOR PROGRAM UPDATES

As the Walton County Tourist Development Council (TDC) moves into another record-breaking tourism season in 2020, our goal is to provide the highest level of customer service for our visitors, both on and off the beach.

Over the last 15 years, the Beach Ambassador program has developed into a source for beach-goers to learn more about South Walton from these local insiders, but it’s also an opportunity for them to learn the local beach etiquette. To further enhance the visitor experience in the coming year, the Beach Ambassador program will now work alongside the Visitor Information Center, providing consistent messaging to our visitors throughout South Walton.

Laurie Reichenbach, Director of the Volunteer Beach Ambassadors for the Friends of South Walton Sea Turtles, has joined the Visit South Walton Beach Ambassador program as Lead Beach Ambassador, bringing her proven leadership and skill to further our mission to expand and grow our team.

Beginning her journey along our 26 miles of sugar white sand in 1991, Laurie came to South Walton as a visitor. After her retirement, she and her family moved to South Walton where she started to notice how visitors treated the beach and asked herself, “What could we do as a community to help our visitors become more invested in our beautiful environment?” This led to the development of the community wide program we know as the Volunteer Beach Ambassador Team.

A group of 30 community members met to organize and hit the beaches for Fall Break in 2016.  Fast forward to 2019, the Friends of South Walton Sea Turtles program gained over 200 volunteers, trained over 30 junior volunteers and logged 6,143 hours of service for the year, providing nearlythe equivalent of three full time employees. The TDC is excited to see how Reichenbach can grow and enhance the Beach Ambassador Program.

“I look forward to growing our County Team and bringing both groups together for a uniformed effort to educate our visitors and welcome them to our beautiful beaches.” Reichenbach said. “We want to help the visitor become engaged in their experience and understand that South Walton is a special place to come and appreciate, one where visitors will want to continue to visit for years to come.”