Ryan Ritchie, Tourism Director, Discover Lake County

Ryan Ritchie, director of Discover Lake County, spoke with Invest: about the range of activities available in the region, the natural beauty of Lake County, and the many events that are being hosted. He discussed the several opportunities available for growth in the market and how the county plans to capitalize on them.

What are some of Discover Lake’s greatest successes in the past year? 

Lake County has seen significant successes in our tourist development tax collections over the last three years, setting records. We have seen some tremendous success in the travel industry. Visitors coming to Lake County stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, and shop in our local shops. The partnerships and relationships we get involved in, whether with the Florida Sports Foundation, the state sports tourism office, any opportunities we have with the states, or the destination marketing office, Visit Florida, and organizations and associations throughout the country, are integral to our success. You can’t succeed in the area without those partnerships and relationships.

What is the reasoning behind the rebranding to Discover Lake, and how does this help accelerate the county’s tourism development initiatives?

There are 12 Lake counties in the country, so we had to differentiate ourselves from those other Lake counties. When we looked to rebrand, we looked at what this county offers. We went from Visit Lake to Discover Lake County. We wanted to look at our historical downtowns, the natural assets, and the beauty and tranquility we offer between two major hubs in the state, Orlando and Tampa; it was our opportunity to say “Discover Lake County,” discover the natural assets and tranquility, and get away from the hustle and bustle to come here and relax. That has been our competitive advantage.

What unique features or attractions does Lake County offer to tourists?

We have a unique situation. Polk County has Legoland, Orlando has Universal, Disney, and all these major attractions. We again had to focus on the nature available here. There are 1,000 lakes in Lake County, which is pretty incredible. There’s also the Harris chain of links, so there is an opportunity for visitors to come in and enjoy those natural assets, get on those lakes, look at nature, and have recreational opportunities. We have the city of Tavares, which is known as the seaplane capital of the world. Visitors can come to Lake County and ride on a seaplane all over our county, dipping into the lakes, taking off, having brunch on Mount Dora or coming back to Tavares and having lunch there, and then maybe heading down to Clermont for dinner. We host 25 major bass fishing events annually with our partners at Bassmaster, Major League Fishing, and Fishers of Men. We have become the gold standard of bass fishing. I always say it is the fishing capital of the world.

Going back to the relationships and partnerships, without our regional cooperation with the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, we wouldn’t be able to have events like that. 

Why are sporting events or tournaments important to the region?

Sports tourism is recession-proof. Even through the pandemic, people still traveled to tournaments and played in many of these sports tourism events. Families were still coming and enjoying the events that were happening. Having a 30-year relationship with the Greater Orlando Sports Commission has allowed us to host some incredible events. Over the last couple of years, we’ve hosted the World Water Ski Championships, for example. We hosted it in 2021, essentially in the middle of the pandemic, and then we had the opportunity to bring it back in 2023. We saw over 34 countries represented here, and significant international media attention was paid to Lake County.

What marketing strategies have been used to attract both visitors from neighboring areas and international visitors?

We partner with an organization called Zarco. They are an organization that dives into market analytics to see where visitors are coming from, which essentially allows us to see where our drive markets are within the state, what those domestic markets look like, and what those international visitors look like. We’ve done brand activation initiatives in St. Petersburg and Clearwater. We’re doing a brand activation in Miami. One of the key points is that we recently engaged with a consultant to do a five-year destination strategic plan for our office. It’s no secret that destinations do these, but it’s our opportunity to discover the consumer sentiment around Lake County. We’re doing interviews with stakeholders. We’re working on our accommodations to get information from them. Every single day, we monitor where our visitors are coming from.

What excites you the most about Lake County’s future, and what are the top priorities moving forward?

Lake County has tremendous opportunity from a growth standpoint. There is an opportunity to bring more hotels and motels to the area. We’ve seen growth in the short-term rental industry. We’ve seen massive collections increase from a short-term rental property standpoint. There is a great deal of opportunity for growth, and possibly building facilities that can bring more opportunities here, whether it be a conference center, an expo center, or a sports facility. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg here. There is also a tremendous opportunity from an international traveler standpoint. We’re just revving ourselves into that to see if we get something we want to keep doing. But we know what we have; our competitive advantage is that we’re centrally located between two major metro areas with Tampa and Orlando, with major airports, and of course, our natural assets. We’re just excited about the future.