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 Posted - 05/20/2003 : 6:08:20 PM
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A “European-Style” Beach For Sarasota County
By Ken Thomas
“What is a European Style beach and why do we need one?” There are a number of answers to the first part of this question, because there are many different kinds of beaches in the many different European countries. Throughout the tourist industry, though, a “Euro-style” beach equates to a “clothing-optional” or nude beach. Some European countries commonly require everyone to wear some sort of covering on their lower torsos but also permit both men and women to be “top free”. Other European countries commonly permit total nudity on their beaches with only a few places requiring traditional coverings. So, in this context, “Euro-style” means clothing-optional and where total nudity would not be mandatory.
The second part of the question has an equally simple answer: to attract tourist dollars. How many dollars? How many do you want? Using the numbers from a recent survey commissioned by Sarasota County’s Tourism Development Council, each visitor that comes to Sarasota County for a vacation stays, on average, six days and five nights and spends $168 per day. These statistics are for each visitor, regardless of whether they are a single tourist or a family of tourists and the $168 accounts for expenses involving lodging, meals, fuel, souvenirs, etc.
It is a well publicized fact that the Florida tourism industry, along with the tourism industry around the world, has been in a horrible slump since the September 11th terrorist attack and only a very few areas around Florida have been able to maintain anywhere near their normal revenues. So the question now should be “What can we do to draw tourists to Sarasota County?” But, before we ask that question, let’s ask the question “Do we want to promote tourism through commercial efforts, through use of our natural resources, or both?” If we concentrate our efforts on promoting tourism through commercial efforts we accept the fact that most of the incoming dollars will go directly into the pockets of the owners of the commercial enterprise. This is not a bad thing, especially for the owners of the “tourist attraction”, because a certain amount of extra spending will dribble out into the local economy through taxes, wages, etc.
The idea of establishing a legally designated “Euro-style” beach falls into to the category of using our natural resources to attract tourists who would not normally come to Sarasota County and then invite them to leave their tourist dollars in our community while they are here. That is what happens in the area of Sunny Isles and North Miami Beach Florida where Haulover Beach Park has operated as a “clothing-optional” beach park for the past eleven years. This Miami-Dade County park is the only place in Florida where Europeans and others who seek out “clothing-optional” beaches can go for an all over tan and where they enjoy both lifeguard and police protection. While there is an ongoing need for lifeguard presence, the County Sheriff there would tell you that there is little need for police protection. He would also tell you that until Haulover Beach Park got its “clothing-optional” designation it was among the most crime ridden of all of the Miami-Dade parks.
According to Shirley Mason, a past President of the South Florida Free Beaches (SFFB) naturist group, the simple reason that Haulover Beach park remains the most used beach park in the county while being the safest and cleanest park is due to the SFFB Volunteer Beach Ambassador Program. “We have an ongoing working relationship with the Sheriff’s Department and have implemented a training program for our Ambassadors. Our Ambassadors are on the beach every day. They patrol the beach, looking for ‘trouble makers’ and take measures to keep that element away from our beach.” When asked how much money SFFB makes each year for their efforts to keep the beach clean and f
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A clothing optional / nude beach for Sarasota, FL
