Episode 052 – The Case for Meaningful Travel

Kylie Diaz, VP of Community Engagement at Visit St. Pete Clearwater, brings a refreshingly mission-driven perspective to this Destination Florida conversation. She oversees the DMO’s capital funding program, its chambers, and a partner base of roughly 4,000 — and she makes a compelling case for how tourism quietly powers a community. Pinellas County collects north of $90 million in bed tax annually (paid by visitors, not residents), and Kylie is the person who helps reinvest it: about $26 million last year alone into museums, attractions, sports arenas, and beach parks, plus a $100 million commitment to beach renourishment after the 2024 storms — literally putting sand back on the beaches.

The through-line of the episode is “meaningful travel.” Kylie’s passion traces back to a formative post-9/11 trip to Malaysia and Borneo, where she witnessed both transformative travel and mass deforestation, and learned how a destination responds in a crisis. That ethos now shapes her work — from a new partnership with Tourism Cares to connect visitors with a destination’s people, culture, and environment, to six mission-driven years at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where tourism was “the engine that fueled the conservation work.” She closes on the theme she says she’ll be telling stories about for the rest of her life: the power of partnerships. It’s a warm, values-forward look at hospitality as a genuine career and tourism as a force for community good.

SPONSORED BY:

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Kylie Diaz (LinkedIn)
Sr. VP of Community Engagement
Visit St. Pete-Clearwater (Destination Site)

Kylie Diaz is Senior Vice President of Community Engagement at Visit St. Pete Clearwater, the DMO for Pinellas County, FL, overseeing its capital funding program and a 4,000-member partner base. With a background in environmental education and hospitality roles spanning the Westin Hilton Head, Innisbrook, and five years as Director of Tourism Marketing at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, she’s a passionate advocate for meaningful travel and the power of partnerships.

In This Episode:

00:06 – Introduction to Aqua Talks
02:43 – Meaningful Travel Efforts at Visit St. Pete Clearwater
06:07 – The Impact of Tourism on Conservation
11:19 – Exploring Opportunities in Hospitality
13:52 – The Power of Partnerships

Key Takeaways:

• Tourism funds the community. Pinellas County’s $90M+ annual bed tax — paid by visitors, not residents — gets reinvested into museums, attractions, arenas, and beach parks, with roughly $26M distributed last year through the capital funding program Kylie oversees.
• $100 million for beach renourishment. After the 2024 storms, the destination committed $100M to literally put sand back on its beaches — a striking example of visitor dollars protecting the core asset.
• “Meaningful travel” is the trend she’s betting on. Through a partnership with Tourism Cares, Visit St. Pete Clearwater is helping travelers connect more deeply with a destination’s people, culture, history, and environment — experiences you take home and remember.
• Mission-driven marketing, learned firsthand. At the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (rescue, rehab, release), Kylie saw tourism as the engine funding conservation — marketing rooted in authenticity and emotional connection, not just visitation.
• A formative crucible: Malaysia and Borneo. A post-9/11 trip filming a travel show taught her transformative travel, environmental stewardship (amid mass deforestation), and crisis response for a destination — lessons that still drive her.
• Hospitality is an underrated career. Kylie and the DMO curated a college course with St. Pete College to show students that hospitality means marketing, film, aquariums, and more — not just front desks and restaurants.
• The common thread: the power of partnerships. Her most creative projects came from matching one partner’s need with another’s resource — the metric she ultimately measures success by (partner happiness + return visitation).
• The destination is bigger than its headliners. Beyond St. Pete and Clearwater, gems like Dunedin, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs, and Gulfport make Pinellas a place you could explore for weeks.