Sunshine Matters

February has been a very busy month for the VISIT FLORIDA International Marketing & Events department.  In the early part of the month, our team attended the Receptive Services Association of America (RSAA) Summit in Washington, DC. This event, with more than 180 attendees, allowed us to hold one-on-one appointments with receptive operators, providing an opportunity to discuss ways we can assist them in promoting the Sunshine State.

RSAA represents the international inbound industry in the United States and is involved in a wide range of industry activities, focusing on working with suppliers, regulatory agencies and travel promotion bureaus to improve the quality of travel related services for foreign visitors.  They are focused on building awareness of the unique role Receptive Tour Operators play in linking suppliers from all parts of the United States with the global travel industry.

Receptive Tour Operators, or receptives, are defined as United States-based companies that specialize in creating, marketing and selling United States travel products to the international inbound travelers.  They have unique knowledge of the countries they serve and of the destinations they sell.  Because of the vital role receptives play, it’s important for VISIT FLORIDA to continue to attend and support this conference and build relationships with the receptive operators.

Also in early February, VISIT FLORIDA’s International Marketing & Events team attended the VUSA Seminars in Zurich, Switzerland and Linz and Graz, Austria, which are hosted by the Visit USA Committee.  With an estimated attendance of 416 travel agents at the Zurich event, VISIT FLORIDA and eleven industry Partners had an opportunity to address the travel agents following our guest speaker who shared details of his bike and kayak tour around Florida.  Our in-country German representatives and industry Partners were able to conduct six 20-minute workshops during the Seminar, as well as attend the Marketplace.

Combined, the Linz and Graz seminars had more than 150 agents in attendance. During these events, registered agents were able to attend the Florida workshops and training sessions to learn the latest tourism news from each of the Partners. With Europe ranked as the No. 1 worldwide region for visitation in 2012 – 3.8 million visitors who spent $2.9 billion – having the opportunity to share information about our destinations first-hand with the travel agents who help ‘sell the sunshine’ is vital to keeping Florida on the minds of European travelers.

And finally, just this week VISIT FLORIDA coordinated a Florida stand at this year’s ANATO Showcase in Corferias, Bogotá.  This three-day annual event, now in its 33rd year, is hosted by the Colombia Association of Travel Agents.  The show brings together tour operators, travel wholesalers and media representatives from all across Colombia and the Latin America market.

Colombia is a growing international market for Florida, showing a 32% increase in visitor spending in the Sunshine State in 2012.  The showcase allowed us to highlight that Florida has direct service into Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando from many cities within Colombia and numerous connecting options throughout the state.