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Source: The Florida Times-Union, JacksonvilleNov.自存倉 14--The stage was surrounded by sparkling settings, flashy videos on big screens and slick and choreographed speeches, as Visit Jacksonville honored local businesses and leaders who helped draw more tourists to the area in the past year. There was a bit of cheerleading, but also a serious urging for community leaders to do more.The Destination Celebration event Wednesday at the Prime Osborn Convention Center also was the unveiling of a new call for business leaders, their employees and associates to work on bringing more visitors to the First Coast. Visit Jacksonville President and CEO Paul Astleford introduced his "Bring It Home" campaign to an audience of about 300 people.Rather than be complacent with what's been accomplished in the past year, Astleford said he's pushing local industry, business and tourism officials. Bring It Home, he said, is a specific challenge to those who go to other cities for conventions, business deals and interactions to return to Jacksonville with commitments from industries to at least visit here."The point is that not just everyone in this [convention center] room, but in our community ... every one of them belongs to associations and every one of them go on a yearly basis to attend many different destinations for conventions and the like," Astleford said after the event. "What we need to build is just the consciousness about the fact they have the power to actually influence where those conventions go."If they care to, we can help them to bring those conventions and at least have those people stake their interests to the leaders of those conventions and tell them that Jacksonville is interested in hosting those events," Astleford said.Wednesday's luncheon was an example of Astleford's approach to transforming Visit Jacksonville since he took over this year. This summer he roused some and miffed others when he said competing local agencies are the unwitting blockades to maximizing visitors to the area.Prior to Wednesday, the annual meeting of the tourism agency and members had been about numbers and a general annual report. This time, the presentation and awards ceremony was just as assertive and audacious as many of his statements.The Destination Celebration event cost about $50,000 to produce, Astleford acknowledged. But he said only $10,000 of that came out of Visit Jacksonville membership fees. The remainder was covered by in-kind services or contributions from area companies and supporters.Astleford's bold approach appears to be having an impact. In a 36-page report in September detailing hotel rates, international travel and domestic trips, the travel website Hotels.com placed Jacksonville as the 35th most popular city visited by travelers within America. It's a jump for Jacksonville, which ranked 42nd in 2012.The surroundings and the rhetoric at Wednesday's lunc迷你倉eon apparently were infectious. While many thanked community and business leaders for their contributions in the past year, few were willing to say the work was done.Jax Chamber President Daniel Davis, who participated in a panel discussion as one of the city's past Tourist Development Council chairs, told the audience he's still frustrated when he travels abroad and many of his contacts know virtually nothing about Jacksonville."People have no idea what Jacksonville is or what it stands for," Davis said.That sticking point was echoed by many speakers, including Mayor Alvin Brown, who took a moment between heaping accolades on area leaders to acknowledge that Jacksonville could be a major tourist destination but still isn't where it should be."We must change that," Brown challenged. "We all have things to offer, vision, commitment, conviction to those who are potential visitors and residents alike."City Council President Bill Gulliford reflected similar sentiments as he recounted some of his recent discussions with officials in the United Kingdom. He, Brown and several other officials traveled to London when the Jacksonville Jaguars played there last month.Inroads were made, Gulliford said. Others were, too, when a One Spark event showcased artists, entrepreneurs and technological innovators during a weeklong festival in the spring that drew tens of thousands of people to the city. But the city's full potential as a visitor attraction hasn't been actualized."We just need to become a little bit better known," Gulliford said.Astleford said the outreach to the city's business and community leaders to spread the word seems almost counter-intuitive. Tourist agencies by nature reach people in other markets. The Bring It Home campaign may be tapping into Jacksonville's most valuable resource."It's a pride recognition by the community for what they are doing for the community," Astleford said. "Not everybody is going to be interested."But to those people who really care about the community and want to contribute to that economic development effort, here's a great way to do it. And it covers almost every individual who's in a leadership position in Jacksonville."Visit Jacksonville social-media alerts will help get area businesses to contribute to the Bring It Home concept, Astleford said."We're going to be opening up not only the information sources, but the contacts with Visit Jacksonville," Astleford said. "This is one of the first times that we're actually going to be reaching out to our community through our social-media network to give them information on how to contact us, who to contact and we're going to be sitting down with these people."Drew Dixon: (904) 359-4098Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.) Visit The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.) at .jacksonville.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage