Staying Extra Cool in Florida

In an article that was found on MSN Travel, Associated Press writer Phil Davis draws our attention to the clothing-optional vacation market in Pasco County, Florida. The article Florida County Is Nudist Mecca sheds light on those who shed clothing during their ideal vacation.

“The American Association of Nude Recreation estimates nudists pump about $400 million into the global tourism economy, up from $120 million in 1992. The association says its ranks have grown 75 percent to 50,000 members in that time. Nudists can chose from 270 clubs, resorts and campgrounds in the United States.

And a lot of that business comes to Pasco County, where the six resorts are concentrated along a six-mile stretch of U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes, about 20 miles north of Tampa.

‘Pasco is becoming the Mecca of North American nudism,’ said Richard Mason, an activist who helped open a stretch of Miami-Dade County’s Haulover Beach to nudists in 1991. ‘A lot of people think nudists live in a colony like hippies. Then you see a place like Caliente. It’s like a country club.'”