COMMUNICATIONS
2024 Perfect in Walton County Awards:
The winners of the 2024 Perfect Awards were announced during a celebration held at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa. Now in its tenth year, the annual awards are nominated and voted upon by residents and visitors alike who choose their favorites in tourism-related businesses, services and organizations.
"The Perfect Awards are one of my favorite programs since we get to highlight our local businesses and the impact they have on Walton County," says Matt Algarin, Walton County tourism director. "To be able to share the accomplishments of these hard-working men and women with our residents and visitors is incredibly rewarding."
More than 5,000 votes were cast across 30 categories to determine the best dining, entertainment, shopping and more in Walton County; the 91 winners, first through third place, are listed on the Perfect in Walton County webpage.
2024 Van Ness Butler, Jr. Hospitality Award:
During the Perfect in Walton County Awards, Stacey Brady was named the winner of the Van Ness Butler, Jr. Hospitality Award, established in 2003 to recognize excellence in hospitality service, travel/tourism marketing, advertising, promotion and contributions to the local community.
As the director of marketing and communications for Grand Boulevard at Sandestin, Brady has helped create charitable events like South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival and Festival of Trees. Also, she has assisted in obtaining financial support for non-profit organizations including 30A Songwriters Festival, ArtsQuest for Cultural Arts Alliance and Children’s Volunteer Health Network Sounds of Soul event, as well as Best of the Emerald Coast, which benefits the Emerald Coast Autism Center, and the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, which benefits 17 area charities.
“We put the work in and the strong return back into our community is what really matters. Over the past decade, Grand Boulevard events have directly or indirectly contributed millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in our community,” Brady said at the Perfect Awards.
Brady started work for Seaside Community Development Corporation in 1999 right after the development gained fame from the success of the movie “The Truman Show.” Brady entered a submission to the national Urban Land Institute organization, which recognizes the very best in development and building in the world; resulting in Seaside being honored with the prestigious Urban Land Institute's 2003 Award for Excellence.
"While I am very grateful for this award, I’m accepting on behalf of each of you. Because together, WE ARE perfect in Walton County," Brady said.
Third Hospitality & Service Job Fair a Success
Walton County Tourism extends a big thank you to all partners who participated in our third annual Hospitality & Service Industry Job Fair, held Feb. 9 at the Boys and Girls Club in Santa Rosa Beach. This year’s successful event connected more than 35 diverse hospitality-and-service businesses with local jobseekers looking for employment in advance of the busy spring tourism season. Click HERE for more information about this free annual event and a list of this year's partner participants.
Walton County Tourism Represents at NYC Travel Media Events:
Walton County Tourism Communications Director Nicole Everett participated in International Media Marketplace - North America in New York City on Jan. 24 and 25. IMM is the leading global networking event connecting the travel industry with top journalists, editors, influencers, and broadcasters. Everett had 18 one-on-one scheduled appointments with premier travel media at the event, held at the Jacob K. Javits Center.
Later in the week Everett joined with the Northwest Florida Beaches consortium to bring “Adventure within Reach" at the New York Travel & Adventure Show. This event, also at the Javits center, attracts travel enthusiasts, advisors and media from around the world. Walton County Tourism is part of the NWFB's eight-county region spanning from Pensacola to Apalachicola; its goal is to showcase the many opportunities for adventure our coastline destinations offer, both collectively and individually, in order to drive awareness and travel to the area.
Walton County Tourism was represented at the IMM-North America travel networking event and with Northwest Florida Beaches at the New York Travel and Adventure Show, in January at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.
Walton County in the News:
Walton County was featured in a variety of high-profile publications recently, including Southern Living. Examples of these press mentions can be found below, and a complete list is available HERE.
- Yahoo! 32 Spring Break Ideas For Families That Want to Get Away
- Southern Living: 16 Dreamy Florida Resorts Worth Adding to Your Bucket List
- The Travel: These 10 Underrated Florida Beach Towns Are A Great Alternative To The Keys
What's New in Walton County:
Does your business have a new menu, location/offering, event or have you recently renovated? We want to know "What's New" at your business. Please submit your details to Summer Padgett, Content and Public Relations Specialist, at Summer@WCFLTourism.com or call (850) 353-3939.
Create/Update Your Business Listings:
Are you taking advantage of the free business listings on our website? Please take a moment to check your business information on our website or in the Extranet. We want to make sure we're including the most up-to-date contact details from all visitor-facing businesses throughout Walton County in our database. There is a special emphasis on adding and updating the businesses and attractions in the northern part of the county, which are new features in our print guides and on our website.
CLICK HERE to register your business or access the partner portal, where you can review and update your company information once you're in our database. If you are a visitor-facing business in Walton County and do not have a current listing on our website, we can help you create one. Accommodation partners are listed on the Book>Direct search engine, while non-lodging businesses are listed under different categories of our Things to Do section. Please contact our Database Specialist Darrelesha Kelly at Darrelesha@WCFLTourism.com or (850) 267-1216 for assistance.
Events Calendar:
Check out our Events calendar to find out what’s happening in Walton County! If you want to share your upcoming or recurring event(s) on our calendar, we encourage you to submit your event details HERE. For more information, contact Database Specialist Darrelesha Kelly at Darrelesha@WCFLTourism.com or (850) 267-1216.
2023 Fall Visitor Tracking Study:
The latest visitor tracking report for Fall 2023 can be found on our Industry Research page.
2023-2024 School Break Calendar:
The school break calendar can be found on our website in both PDF and Excel formats.
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