Nassau County's solo promotion campaign will bus in tourists from Manhattan this summer

Nassau County’s first “public-facing” project after initiating its own tourism promotion campaign gets on the road Saturday — literally.

A luxury 55-passenger bus bearing the new effort’s logo, “More to Explore,” will depart midtown Manhattan and head for Long Beach for a daylong visit to the oceanfront city. It will be one of a series of bus excursions to and from sites in Nassau County that the campaign — created by the Glen Head-based advertising and marketing agency, RRDA LI Inc. — has planned through Labor Day.

Tourists will be picked up for the bus trips and dropped off at 40th Street and Lexington Avenue. Tickets are $25 round-trip for adults and free for children under 12, and can be purchased at www.nassaucountytourism.com.

“It’ll be a day at the beach — they’ll leave at 8 a.m. and be back in the city by 6 [p.m.],” said RRDA owner, Jaime Hollander, of the Long Beach jaunt. She operates the firm from her home. “People will hop on and hop off the bus and not have to worry about parking, and they’ll get a free beach pass.” The Beach Comfort rental company in Long Beach will provide discounts on chair and umbrella rentals, and Skudin Surf will offer cut rates on surfing lessons.

The Long Beach trip will help people become familiar with Nassau County, Hollander said.

“It has sand, waves and amazing hotels,” Hollander said. “It’s like another world. You feel like you’re on vacation.” Long Beach is one of many places to visit in Nassau, and that’s the idea behind the campaign’s logo, “More to Explore,” she added.

The county “has more beaches, more entertainment, places to go shopping, arts, culture, restaurants and historic sites … so whether you’re from the city, Bucks County, Connecticut, or from across the country, we want you to see what’s here.”

Other weekend bus trips that will leave from the 40th and Lexington this summer are planned. So far, visits to Americana Manhasset and Museum Row are set for July 13 and July 14, but the times and the number of buses have yet to be determined.

In December, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s administration notified executives of the Hauppauge-based promotions agency, Discover Long Island, that its bid for a new contract was unsuccessful. The three-year, about $3 million deal with RRDA ended 45 years of unified marketing with Suffolk County. RDDA’s contract with Nassau County includes a two-year renewal option.

Discover Long Island CEO and president, Kristen Reynolds, said at the time that the loss of a unified marketing strategy would be confusing to potential visitors and could be perceived as “Nassau and Suffolk County are working against each other.” Suffolk is retaining Discover Long Island.

But when asked her thoughts on the new solo Nassau campaign on Thursday, Reynolds said in an emailed statement, “I don’t have any further comments on Nassau County’s decision to separate from the regional brand of Long Island. However, Discover Long Island continues to promote Long Island tourism with the Support of Suffolk County and many Nassau partners …”

RRDA does not charge its partners.

Hollander said the separate Nassau tourism campaign didn’t represent a secession from Suffolk.

“It’s nice for Nassau to have a single focus and dig into what’s going on here and get hyper local.”