Yesterday, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another tourism record, welcoming 95.8 million visitors from January through September, according to VISIT FLORIDA. This is the highest number of visitors in any nine months in Florida’s history and represents a 6.7 percent increase over the 89.8 million visitors during the same period in 2017. This includes 85 million domestic visitors, 8 million overseas visitors and 2.8 million Canadian visitors. Governor Scott said, “I am proud to announce that Florida’s tourism industry is continuing to set records to help our state’s economic ..read more

Last Friday, VISIT FLORIDA joined the Florida Association of Destination Marketing Organizations (FADMO) to prepare more than a thousand hygiene care packages for Hurricane Michael victims in Florida’s central Panhandle. More than 40 volunteers from tourism organizations throughout the state assembled items into hygiene kits at the Grand Marlin Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Pensacola Beach, Florida. Ken Lawson, VISIT FLORIDA President and CEO, said, “While Hurricane Michael, made landfall more than a month ago, many of our neighbors are still feeling the devastating effects of the storm.   ..read more

Today, I am proud to announce the appointment of Merry Coffman, Matthew Johnson and Nerissa Okiye to the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors. Coffman, Johnson and Okiye were confirmed as members of the VISIT FLORIDA board during the recent Enterprise Florida Board of Directors meeting held in Miami on September 12. The new members, who have already been approved by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, fill vacated seats. I’m very excited to have these three distinguished leaders join our Board of Directors and I look forward to their contributions. Their diverse experience and perspect ..read more

Today, VISIT FLORIDA announced its FY 2018-2019 Board of Directors and industry committees. Numerous VISIT FLORIDA partners, including some of the industry’s foremost experts, have been selected to represent the tourism industry for the new term. Lino Maldonado, Vice President of Operations, Growth, and Innovation for Wyndham Vacation Rentals North America, is the new Chair of the 2018-2019 VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors. Lino succeeds Maryann Ferenc, President and CEO of Mise en Place in Tampa, who served as Chair for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Maryann Ferenc, outgoing Chair of the VISIT FL ..read more

Last month, in an effort to keep Florida top of mind with international travelers, VISIT FLORIDA joined more than 6,000 attendees from over 70 countries in Denver, Colorado for this year’s IPW—the travel industry’s premier international marketplace and the largest generator of travel to the U.S. IPW, which took place May 19-23, gathers travel professionals—including U.S. destinations, hotels, attractions, sports teams and transportation companies, and international tour operators, buyers and wholesalers from around the world—to meet in one place to help bring the world to America. This year’s ..read more

In an effort to share Florida’s sunshine with Chinese travelers, staff from VISIT FLORIDA’s International Marketing and Public Relations teams recently hosted a ten-day sales mission in China. Developed by the VISIT FLORIDA International Marketing and Avia Reps China, the China sales mission took place from April 16-26, in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shanghai. Ten Industry Partners joined VISIT FLORIDA to engage top travel agents, tour operators and media though sales meetings, appointments, seminars and networking events. China, one of Florida’s key global markets, is ranked in the top 10 ..read more

Today, VISIT FLORIDA released the results of its 2017 Canadian marketing efforts. In 2017, Canadian visitation to Florida increased from 3.35 million in 2016 to 3.48 million visitors, or 4 percent. Additionally, from January to November 2017, Canadian air travel to Florida was up 5.9 percent, and ground transportation was up 1.3 percent. These increases come after three consecutive years of a decline in Canadian visitation to Florida. Ken Lawson, President & CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, said “These results show that more and more Canadians are visiting the Sunshine State, which is great news. Th ..read more

Brazil is one of Florida’s key global markets, ranked third for international visitation to Florida. Last week, to ensure the Sunshine State remains top of mind with Brazilian travelers, VISIT FLORIDA’s International Marketing and Public Relations teams participated in World Travel Market Latin America 2018. Now in its sixth year, WTM Latin America was held April 3-5 at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, Brazil. As the world’s leading event for the travel industry in Latin America, the three-day show attracted 6,000 travel professionals and 598 exhibiting companies. At this year’s c ..read more

Today, I am proud to announce the appointment of Frank Belzer, Susan Jacobs and Scott Shalley to the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors. Belzer, Jacobs and Shalley were confirmed as members of the VISIT FLORIDA board during the recent Enterprise Florida Board of Directors meeting held in West Palm Beach on March 15. The new members, who have already been approved by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, fill vacated seats.   I’m very excited to have these three distinguished leaders join our Board of Directors and I look forward to their contributions. Their diverse experienc ..read more

Yesterday, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another tourism record, welcoming 95.8 million visitors from January through September, according to VISIT FLORIDA. This is the highest number of visitors in any nine months in Florida’s history and represents a 6.7 percent increase over the 89.8 million visitors during the same period in 2017. This includes 85 million domestic visitors, 8 million overseas visitors and 2.8 million Canadian visitors. Governor Scott said, “I am proud to announce that Florida’s tourism industry is continuing to set records to help our state’s economic ..read more