Sunshine Matters

I am delighted to report that yesterday’s 2011 Florida Tourism Day at the Capitol was a huge success.  The purpose of Tourism Day is to educate the legislature, media and Floridians about the importance of Florida’s tourism industry and the rationale for public funding.  It serves as a platform to let our lawmakers know just how vital tourism is to our state and how crucial it is for them to support Florida’s No. 1 industry.  Continue reading »

This past week, March 9-13, I was in Germany for the 45th edition of ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show.  With very strong industry support, VISIT FLORIDA coordinated the largest stand within the USA pavilion with 80 Florida industry partners in attendance.  Surprisingly, when we arrived we discovered that spring had sprung with Berlin experiencing mild temperatures and blue skies.  So, if weather is any indicator, we should expect a sunny future for international tourism arrivals in 2011, keeping with the trend we experienced in 2010. Continue reading »

As you know, travel and tourism not only works for Florida—it works for America.  Our industry is one of America’s largest employers, with one out of every nine non-farm jobs relying on travel.  In the Sunshine State, every 85 visitors to Florida support one  tourism job.  Continue reading »

With gas prices on the rise, many people are asking how this might affect travel in the Sunshine State going into the spring and summer tourism season.  If recent trends are any indication, the visitors will keep coming.

When looking at the number of non-air visitors to the state (primarily drive), VISIT FLORIDA research shows there is no correlation between an increase in gas prices and a decrease in visitors.  In past, it has been shown that consumers will usually make cutbacks at home or in other areas of their vacation to compensate for the increase in gas prices before they will cancel their trip. For instance, they may eat out less, stay in less expensive lodging or do fewer activities.   Continue reading »

As we head into our 2011-12 fiscal year, I am excited to see our successful Insider program continue on VISITFLORIDA.com.  This program consists of freelance journalists who generate content in a specialized topic area. They write feature stories for the web, blog posts, answer questions from users on VISITFLORIDA.com, take photos, and shoot informal videos as well as host produced videos.  Our Insiders also interact with people in communities outside of VISITFLORIDA.com, such as Facebook, Twitter and more.  The planned Insider topics for the upcoming program year are Family, Beaches, Off the Beaten Path, Outdoors & Nature, Boating & Fishing, Dining, Entertainment & Luxury, Shopping & Smart Travel and Golf. Continue reading »