Sunshine Matters

Today, at the direction of Governor Rick Scott, VISIT FLORIDA announced an aggressive new marketing campaign to highlight the Sunshine State following Hurricane Irma. The multi-phased campaign will be paid for with existing VISIT FLORIDA funding and include digital, social, broadcast and traditional components in both domestic and international markets. It will begin this week and run for approximately one month leading up to the beginning of VISIT FLORIDA’s traditional winter campaign. The Keys will be a major focus of this marketing plan once our partners there have indicated they are ready to welcome visitors back. Read more of this post »

I am proud to share that during a press conference at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa this morning, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record by welcoming the highest number of visitors of any six months in the state’s history with 60.7 million visitors, according to VISIT FLORIDA. This represents a 4.1 percent increase over the same period in 2016, and includes 53.2 million domestic visitors, 5.3 million overseas visitors and 2.2 million Canadian visitors. Read more of this post »

I am excited to formally announce VISIT FLORIDA’s first round of cooperative marketing programs for our partners today. As you know, our co-op marketing programs are designed to allow any partner to buy into a larger VISIT FLORIDA marketing campaign and promote their specific destination. Simply put, these programs allow a business of any size to reach a larger audience. Read more of this post »

I’m pleased to announce that in July, Florida’s hotel occupancy rate and rooms sold, both indicators of visitation numbers, outpaced the entire United States. Florida’s rooms sold are up 3.3 percent over last year, far outpacing the national average of 1.2 percent. Florida’s occupancy rate for July was up 1.2 percent, while the U.S. average declined by .5 percent. Read more of this post »

As you know, I have been traveling the state, engaging with our partners, DMOs, board members, legislators and other stakeholders to listen, learn, and offer VISIT FLORIDA’s support at every stop. I want to earn your trust and learn from you first hand. This has been a hard year for all of us. VISIT FLORIDA is your organization, one that each of our Industry Partners have built over the years. Its value cannot be underestimated. Read more of this post »