Pictured: Second to the left, former Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley is inducted into the Destinations International Hall of Fame. Photo by Destinations International.

When former Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley received a phone call about her induction into the Destinations International Hall of Fame, her initial reaction was one of shock—especially being three years retired.

“It’s so surprising to me, because I tend to think of my predecessors from the Hall as people I looked up to throughout my career, and to find myself shoulder to shoulder with them is really such an honor,” she says.

Considered one of the tourism industry’s highest honors, Haley was celebrated at Destinations International’s annual convention in Portland, Oregon on July 21. The organization has recognized over 50 pioneers in the tourism industry worldwide since the Hall of Fame Awards were created in 2014.

“We did our best to market Sarasota, and we started to break away from a lot of traditional marketing and rely heavily on public relations,” Haley says. “Gradually, we became much more involved in the community and creating opportunities in the destination.”

Haley’s 24-year tenure as president of VSC led her to launch tourism initiatives and help transform the Sarasota community through innovative projects such as The Bay, a signature park along Sarasota Bay. Partnering with this project’s co-founder, Michael Klauber, VSC took the lead in creating The Bay, which opened to the public in October 2022.

“We really thought there was an opportunity for a park for the community, and the board gave us the funding and blessing to make this a full-time project,” Haley says. “In the period of one year, Michael and I attended almost 300 meetings; every neighborhood association and condo association that would have us, we would go there.”

Other projects of Haley’s included highlighting local restaurants with Savor Sarasota and developing an 18.5-mile circus heritage trail from Sarasota to Venice called The Legacy Trail. These efforts, she says, along with The Bay, will have a lasting impact.

“We’ve built a great team at Visit Sarasota that is so involved in all levels of the community and has really proved their worth in serving the community, from storm response to COVID response,” she says. “In the three years that I’ve been gone, Visit Sarasota has soared.”

Haley says while she received this honor in her name, she really views it as an honor for Visit Sarasota as a whole.

“What was a pretty small destination 25 years ago, it really shows the hard work of the entire Visit Sarasota team,” she says.

Visit Sarasota County, 301 N Cattlemen Rd., Sarasota, 941-955-0991, visitsarasota.com

Pictured: Second to the left, former Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley is inducted into the Destinations International Hall of Fame. Photo by Destinations International.