A Tale Of Two Tampas: Small Kansas Town Visits Florida

TAMPA, FL — Tampa met Tampa in the Sunshine State this week when residents of a small Midwestern town were invited to visit the bay area to have a little "fun in the sun."

Tampa Bay welcomed nearly every resident of Tampa, Kansas, when they arrived at the Tampa International Airport on Monday. Organized by Visit Tampa Bay and Southwest Airlines, 95 of the town's 100 residents were welcomed with signs reading "There's no place like Tampa" and "Tampa to Tampa."

Tampa, Kansas, is located about an hour north of Wichita. The town is located along the historic Santa Fe Trail and has only 24 businesses.

The idea to invite the group to Tampa Bay happened by mistake, Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada told Fox 13.

"One of our team members was trying to MapQuest her way back to Tampa, Florida, and said, ‘Wow, this is a long way to go to come back home. I knew it wasn’t that far.’ It was Tampa, Kansas," Corrado said.

The Kansas crowd arrived on two non-stop flights from Kansas City. Nearly 30 children were on board, most of whom had never flown before, the airport said in a news release.

When local businesses heard about the trip, many were quick to offer some perks to the travelers.

The group stayed for three nights in the Floridan Hotel with excursions to Busch Gardens and ZooTampa. They also received Tampa Riverwalk passes to visit eight different downtown attractions including the Florida Aquarium, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children’s Museum.

The group heads back to Kansas on Thursday.