- April 20, 2024
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Georgia Turner has served as the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce's vice president of tourism development the past two years. But she will soon leave her post as the county's chief marketer to help plug the assets of her own hometown, in Alabama.
She will become the communications manager for Alabama’s Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Office in January.
“Like the song says, ‘My home’s in Alabama no matter where I lay my head,’” she said in a news release. “It’s tough to leave friends and colleagues here, but I'm thrilled to go home.”
Flagler County Tourism Development Council Chairman and County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin said he was sad to see Turner leave.
“She has been a tremendous asset in sustaining and expanding tourism in Flagler County,” he said.
Since Turner joined the chamber in November 2011, she has helped bring sporting events into the county, create the Flagler County Arts Alliance and Flagler County Hospitality Alliance, as well as rebrand the area as “Palm Coast and the Flagler Beaches.”
“We went from just being ‘Flagler County’ to trying to be more descriptive, and we went with putting ‘beach’ in our title,” she said. “That was one of our biggest accomplishments, to develop a new logo and marketing strategy.”
Turner said whomever takes her position after she leaves would do well to work to expand the area’s appeal as a sporting destination.
“They’re going to have to really focus a lot on sports,” she said. “Sports is a good market for this area, and that’s going to continue to be a big focus.”
But this is an exciting time for public relations and marketing, she added, being that social media allows smaller destinations like Flagler County to compete with bigger ones.
“It’s probably the best time in the history of P.R. and marketing for a smaller destination like ours to be noticed, just because of social media and all of the new advance in ways to get your word out,” she said.
Before she started with the chamber, Turner was director of specialized markets for the Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and owned her own marketing and public relations agency that specialized in travel and tourism. She is also a former director of the Alabama Mountain Lakes Association and a former beat reporter at the Times Daily newspaper in Florence, Ala.
Her last day at the chamber will be Dec. 31, and the chamber is currently searching for a replacement. Job details will be posted on employflorida.com and linkedIn.com.
