Born for the Job
Erin Duggan, the new president and CEO of Visit Sarasota County (VSC), officially took the helm on September 30. However, she has behaved like a one-woman tourism bureau for Sarasota since she was a teenager.
Duggan was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and moved to Sarasota before entering third grade.
“Growing up here, to me it was very normal that I could participate in a circus conservatory one day then go to an opera camp or an improv class the next. I didn’t know that wasn’t the case in every community,” Duggan says. “I thought, ‘Sure, I can head over to the quaint Amish community and get fresh peanut butter pie. Can’t you do that everywhere?’ I was very lucky that I did get to participate in all of these cool things that make Sarasota County so unique, but of course I had no idea that they were unique.”
Duggan found out soon after she left for Lakeland to study communications at Florida Southern College. When she and her dorm mates planned a weekend getaway, more often than not their excursions brought them to Sarasota County.
“I hate to say that Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week was my brainchild, but necessity is the mother of invention. Our restaurants obviously needed support.”
“We would go to Siesta Key Beach or down to Venice and look for sharks’ teeth. That’s when everybody would be, like, ‘Oh my god, I didn’t have any of this stuff when I was growing up,’” Duggan says. “I never knew that destination marketing organizations were a thing or people got paid to promote a community. But I must have been born to do it for a living because I was doing it in college for free!”
Duggan has been a pivotal member of the VSC’s staff since 2005, joining as public relations manager, later moving up to brand director, and becoming vice president in 2016. She brought a wealth of local knowledge and expertise in the area’s vitality from prior work as community relations manager for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County and director of marketing and communications for United Way of Manatee County.
When she started with VSC, Duggan recognized a problem: While Sarasota boasted a fantastic culinary scene, many restaurants plummeted from feast into famine after Memorial Day.
“I hate to say that Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week was my brainchild, but necessity is the mother of invention. Our restaurants obviously needed support,” Duggan says. Savor Sarasota launched in June of Duggan’s first year at the tourism bureau, coaxing locals out to enjoy affordable prix-fixe meals at restaurants where they might not be able to get a seat during high season. Over the years, Savor Sarasota has put the city on the map as a foodie’s paradise.
“It’s really exciting now to see the restaurants in the summer still be full, still have a wait, and not have to close down like they used to,” she says. In her new role, Duggan continues to steer VSC toward the benefit of Sarasota’s residents as well as its tourists.
