HOLMES BEACH — The tourism bureaus of Manatee and Sarasota counties announced Monday the two are looking at ways to partner on certain business recruiting initiatives in an effort to bring more visitors to the area.

Sales missions and the Ringling International Arts Festival are two projects the local convention and visitors bureaus are looking to combine their marketing efforts on, said Virginia Haley, executive director of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau at Monday’s Tourist Development Council meeting.

“Competition is stronger than it’s ever been before,” Haley said. “We’ve always had a strong partnership between the two CVBs but we’re looking to take that to the next level.”

Debbie Meihls, executive manager of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the two will partner marketing resources and staff to attend JetBlue airline sales missions to raise awareness about the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

In addition, the tourism bureaus are looking to collaborate marketing efforts on a series of events that will be held leading up to the Ringling International Arts Festival in October.

And should the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport be the next airport selected by the German airline, Condor, the tourism bureaus will look at ways to maximize Bradenton-Sarasota marketing efforts to the European market.

Rick Piccolo, president and chief executive officer of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, attended the Tourist Development Council meeting and said Condor is expected to make its decision “any day” on whether it will come to SRQ.

The estimated annual economic impact of Condor flying in and out of SRQ is $35 million, Piccolo said.

Piccolo added if Condor selects SRQ over Tampa International Airport or adding a flight to Fort Lauderdale it would give the local airport more world recognition.

“It will put us in a whole new league,” Piccolo said. “We can start to get others to look at us as well.”