Southwest Airlines brings residents of Tampa, Kansas, to Tampa for vacation

The all-expenses-paid trip included three nights at the Floridan Hotel and excursions to Busch Gardens, ZooTampa at Lowry Park and other local attractions.

By Brian Hartz
| 11:20 a.m. December 8, 2022
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

Residents of Tampa, Kansas, celebrate their arrival at Tampa International Airport on Dec. 5. (Courtesy photo)

Tampa Bay-Lakeland

Visit Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport and Southwest Airlines teamed up this week to bring nearly the entire population of Tampa, Kansas, to Tampa for a three-day vacation.

Many of the Tampa, Kansas, children who arrived in Tampa on Dec. 5 had never flown before. (Courtesy photo)

According to a news release, 95 of the Midwestern town’s 100 residents — including 30 children, most of whom had never flown before — accepted the offer of an all-expenses-paid trip that included a stay at the Floridan Hotel and passes for local attractions including Busch Gardens, ZooTampa at Lowry Park, the Florida Aquarium, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children’s Museum. They arrived Monday at TIA via nonstop Southwest flights from Kansas City.

“We want to welcome our Kansas cousins for what is sure to be the trip of a lifetime,” TIA Executive Vice President Chris Minner states in the release. “Tampa International Airport is proud to be able to give this group its first impression of not just our Tampa, but the entire Tampa Bay region.”

Nestled along the Santa Fe Trail, America’s first commercial highway, Tampa, Kansas, has just 24 businesses, but according to the release, more young families with kids have been moving to the area in recent years. Incorporated as a city in 1908, it’s about 70 miles north of Wichita and 165 miles west of Kansas City.