You’ve got to spend money to earn money.
That maxim seemed to hold sway with Lee County commissioners Tuesday, when they OK’d spending $250,000 in bed tax revenues to bring the Hobie 16 World Championship here.
The event is scheduled for November 2019.
The catamaran racers “will be staying in our hotels, seeing our beautiful water, seeing our islands and bringing more tourists here.
“I think it’s money well spent,” said Commission Chairman Cecil Pendergrass.
The Hobie 16 is a popular catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Co. for racing and day sailing.
The sponsorship agreement with Hobie doesn’t specify a particular location in Lee County.
South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island, however, was mentioned in a local businessman’s letter to Commissioner Frank Mann, supporting the expenditure.
That location couldn’t be confirmed on Tuesday. Now that the sponsorship agreement is signed, county spokeswoman Betsy Clayton expects Hobie will make an official announcement with more details, very shortly.
According to research by county staff:
This will be the first time since 1984 that this event has been held in the United States. That happened to occur at Florida’s Fort Walton Beach.
Previous events have attracted participants from more than 25 countries.
Between 500 to 600 competitors are expected, along with 1,300 to 1,500 family members attending as spectators.
If the 2019 championship follows suit, Lee tourism promoters forecast that direct visitor spending will reach about $2.45 million, using the Florida Sports Foundation’s economic impact model as a guideline.
And, that doesn’t include an estimated $195,000 in marketing and public relations benefits as well as more than $54,000 in revenues from the tourist development tax, also known as the bed tax.
Lee County charges a 5 percent tax on short-term lodgings rentals.
Besides enhancing beaches and shoreline areas used by tourists and residents, bed-tax collections are tapped for promoting the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel tourism brand and to pay some local sports stadium debt.
In Lee County, tourism is a $3-billion-a-year industry, responsible for the employment of an estimated one in five residents.
The event sponsorship has been in the works for several weeks, but the Hobie-signed agreement didn't arrive in time to make the last Tourist Development Council meeting, held May 10.
County Visitor & Convention Bureau chief Tamara Pigott emailed members of the Tourist Development Council on Monday, explaining she did not broach the subject with them sooner because "we will cover the expense from our current marketing budget," and because "Hobie has asked that the event not be announced until the marketing components (logo, event website, sail design, etc.) for the event are in place."
Steve Colgate, chairman of the Lee County-based Offshore Sailing School, wrote to Mann, asking him to support the sponsorship.
Colgate is a National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee and a former competitor in the Olympic Games and America's Cup trials.
In his emailed letter to Mann, Colgate noted that, “One of the many reasons they selected South Seas Island Resort is that the late Hobie Alter, the founder, knew Offshore Sailing School has been there since 1975.”
Colgate’s so pumped-up about the Hobie championship, he’s offering event organizers two boats with skippers, free of charge.
He named several benefits to hosting the event, noting it would “reinforce the world-class attractions, amenities and accommodations available here.”
Said Colgate: “This is a big deal.”