Sunshine Matters

Throughout May and June, VISIT FLORIDA hosted 11 individual press trips as part of our Canadian Influencer Campaign.  Ranked as Florida’s top country for international visitation and spending, Canada brought 3.8 million visitors to the state in 2015 who spent $4.1 billion.  Hosting influential media on individual press trips allows the journalists or influencers to personally experience the Florida product in order to gather content for their publications, and inspire their readers and followers to visit the Sunshine State.

With this Canadian Influencer Campaign, VISIT FLORIDA focused on bloggers and social media influencers who fit within three categories – travel, family travel and food travel – reaching a vast audience across Canada and worldwide.  Combined, the bloggers have more than one million unique visitors per month reading their blogs, and more than 2.9 million followers on social media.

The articles generated from each of these press trips have story angles ranging from “5 Reasons Why St. Petersburg Is Becoming America’s Hottest City” to “6 Family Friendly Activities in Florida’s Gulf Coast” to “Where to Eat in Fort Myers, Sanibel, and Captiva.”  To date, 30 articles have been published, garnering more than 4.7 million earned media impressions.  In addition, more than 480 social media posts have been shared, earning more than 24.3 million impressions.

Through teamwork with our destination Partners, VISIT FLORIDA was able to send each influencer to a different destination in Florida, collectively garnering coverage of the entire state.  We would like to thank the 19 Partners who helped coordinate and host these trips: The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel; Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB; Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater; Visit Sarasota County; St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches VCB; Daytona Beach Area CVB; Indian River County Chamber of Commerce; Discover Martin; Visit South Walton; Visit Pensacola; Amelia Island CVB; Visit Jacksonville; Greater Miami CVB; Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB; Visit Orlando; Experience Kissimmee; The Florida Keys and Key West CVB; The Palm Beaches CVB; and Visit Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, & Hutchinson Island.

For more information about VISIT FLORIDA’s individual press trips program, please contact me at sgilhousen@visitflorida.org.