Nudists Want Beaches To Lure More Tourists To Florida's Shores

[Davin]

One thing you don't see on many beaches in Florida is nudity. Currently one beach in Miami is the only one in the state where clothing is optional.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=96795

[Fitz1980]

And it's the busiest beach in South Florida. It's free to attend, on weekends you can barely find a patch of land big enough to set you towel on (God help you if you bring a big group) and it's $5 to park a car there. Those parking fees make well over $1 million per year for the Miami-Dade Dept of Parks and Recreation. Most public services operate at a loss (public transportation, AMTRAK, public parks, national forests) this one was actually turning a profit for the county and people don't want to copy it and others want to shut it down so that Trump's new hotel (which does look very impressive BTW) can turn it into a private beach.

BTW that's another big worry down here at the moment. I think if Trump goes in that direction he's an idiot. He's got a clothing optional beach next door. It's the busiest beach in South Florida; a beach that people come from all over the world to visit. I think that when his hotel opens they should start running ads in nudist publications that they are a luxury hotel that overlooks "World Famous Haulover Beach." Perhaps even open up a clothing optional bar at the hotel. It's dozens of stories tall. Just rope off a floor or two as the "Clothing Optional Section" with a bar, a hot tub, perhaps a spa with massages and facial treatments and stuff. Run some ads in the nudist world and see if you have to start designating more or less floors as part of the clothing optional section.

From my own experience I've realized that nudists (or at least people with nudist tendencies who like to be naked and don't mind doing it outdoors with other people) are every where. Some travel long distances to get there. When I lived in Metro-Atlanta, Georgia I got a few people to go to Paradise Valley when my spiel was "it's over an hour to get there, it's about $30+ per person to get in for one day, most of the people there are our parents' age (no offense) & you have to buy all of your drinks at the club-house bar." Down here I've gotten many more friends to check out Haulover with "it's less than an hour away, free to enter $5 to park the one car we're all in, ages still tend toward older and we can bring our own cooler of beer right onto the damn beach." As they said in Field of Dreams "If you build it they will come." Seems like anywhere a nudist (or clothing optional) place goes in not only do hard-core nudists trek there but locals who thought that nakedness sounded cool but never tried it before just appear as if from nowhere.

[cruiser]

We have been there a few times. It's like a little slice of heaven. Very clean, orderly and you can rent lounges and umbrellas. I really don't understand why there aren't more clothing optional beaches in Florida or elsewhere. It's a money maker for the stae and the people patrol it themseves.

[Larry1]

It would be great if there were more nudist or clothing optional beaches here in Florida, especially on the west coast side of Florida. Somewhere about midway of the state.

Larry

[walter05]

With all of the states that have adopted gambling to raise money, this is not as far fetched as it may sound.

This approach might work.

Walter

[Fitz1980]

It would be great if there were more nudist or clothing optional beaches here in Florida, especially on the west coast side of Florida. Somewhere about midway of the state.

Larry

I think that a clothing optional beach on the west coast, epically near the center of the state, would probably face backroom opposition from the nudist resorts that populate the area. They have had to work closely with members of the legislature to open and stay in business in the face of "moral crusaders" who wanted them shut down. But at the end of the day they are businesses that need customers to survive and would see a drop off in business if there was a legal nude beach where one didn't have to pay for a membership, grounds fees and buying every beer at the on site bar.

[tanbare1973]

I think Fitz hit the nail on the head. There's long been proposals to turn a portion of Ft. Desoto Beach in St. Petersburg clothing optional. However, Pinellas County still leans a bit conservative.

While it would be a boon for Pinellas County, the resorts up in Pasco would likely see a dropoff in patronage because of the cheaper hotels, easy access to the beach, and lack of park fees at Ft. Desoto (other than the tolls on the Pinellas Bayway).

[Bobby Hill]

A nude beach in the Fla Panhandle would be a good idea !!

[Naturist Mark]

I think that a clothing optional beach on the west coast, epically near the center of the state, would probably face backroom opposition from the nudist resorts that populate the area. They have had to work closely with members of the legislature to open and stay in business in the face of "moral crusaders" who wanted them shut down. But at the end of the day they are businesses that need customers to survive and would see a drop off in business if there was a legal nude beach where one didn't have to pay for a membership, grounds fees and buying every beer at the on site bar.

I'm not saying that prediction is wrong ... but it is stupid.

There are not so many nudist resorts in the Land O'Lakes area because they are afraid of competition. They are there because of a good business environment and because they are a collective tourist destination. A legal nude beach in the area would only improve their prospects.

-Mark