Airport officials might be just weeks away from announcing the addition of a new low-cost air carrier to the Panama City-Bay County International Airport under construction near West Bay, officials said Tuesday.

Bay County Tourist Development Council executive director Dan Rowe made the comment during a discussion on spring tourism data presented by Klagas Group president Walter Klagas, who urged the TDC not to give up on European visitors, despite a recent dip in visits.

Although 3,936 European visitors this spring comprised only a small portion of the 2009 March-May total, that market experienced the largest decline this year, dipping 42 percent from a total of 6,773 visitors last spring.

"Don't ignore it," Klagas said. "This is potentially a very strong market for you."

Rowe said airport officials probably were only 45 days away from making an announcement about a low-cost carrier?s commitment to the new airport, set to open in May 2010.

"We are in the 11th hour,' board member Andy Phillips agreed. "We are very, very close."

One of the carriers mentioned by TDC members Tuesday was Southwest Airlines, one of the possible carriers airport officials are trying to recruit. The value of such a low-cost carrier would be in chartered international flights, Phillips said.

Spring tourism

Despite national economic woes and a rise in U.S. unemployment, spring tourism was up in Bay County by 7.3 percent in 2009 over the same period last year, Klagas said. In addition, spring 2009 tourism expenditures also increased by 5.6 percent over the same March-May season in 2008.

This was particularly welcome news because August 2009 numbers seem to have taken an early drop, Klagas said, even though the final summer figures for this year have not been tabulated.

The Internet continues to be a huge tool for potential travelers seeking vacation information, Klagas said, with 84 percent of Bay County tourists using on-line info compared to 77 percent last season.

Many potential tourists are using Web-based reservations to make lastminute decisions based on the bestavailable deals, TDC board member Yonnie Patronis observed.

Board member Buddy Wilkes said he was surprised and pleased at the 90 percent satisfaction level by local tourists cited in the survey, especially because earlier data from selected Southeast focus groups had tagged Panama City Beach as "crowded" and "rundown."

"We lost a lot of our legacy travelers when the old hotels went away," he said. "We are building a new base."

The biggest tourism increases this spring were seen from the Florida market and the Southeast market, which rose 16 percent and 27 percent, respectively, Klagas said. Visitors from all other markets dropped, including an 11-percent decline from the Northeast, a 3.6 percent drop from the Midwest and a 6.3-percent dip from the Southwest.

The Midwest, which represented the second highest number of tourists to Bay County after the Southeast in spring 2009 - 91,446 compared to 126,268 - has been particularly hard hit by the current recession, Klagas said.