Next Tuesday, Florida’s elected officials will return to Tallahassee to address redistricting, the budget and other key issues during the 2012 Legislative Session. The following week, on January 18, the Partnership for Florida’s Tourism – a grassroots coalition designed to raise awareness of the importance of tourism and to increase public funding of tourism marketing – will [...]

This year VISIT FLORIDA participated in METROPOLL XIV, a comprehensive study of meeting planners and the meetings market in North America, conducted by RRC Associates. The report, which provides a detailed description of meeting planners’ preferences and their perceptions of 40 North American destinations, was conducted over a dozen years allowing for trend analysis of [...]

VISIT FLORIDA, an industry thought leader on so many fronts (see: Google Currents), has established a new standard with the conception, reporting and production of original content. This initiative started with the Insiders, the cast of bloggers who write consumer-friendly posts on such hot topics as beaches and family travel. And it continues with the [...]

Florida ranks second among all 50 states in total international visitation and first in visitor spending.  In 2010 alone, Florida’s tourism industry brought in 11.1 million international visitors from 144 different countries who spent $10.6 billion. As a unique opportunity for increasing international visitation to the state and improving the Sunshine State’s economy, VISIT FLORIDA [...]

Happy Holidays!  Today, VISIT FLORIDA put the finishing touches on our annual digital holiday card and sent out it to many of our friends, colleagues and fans around the world.  Since we may not have everyone’s email on file, we’ve posted it toYouTube and are sharing it through Sunshine Matters, as well.  We had a [...]

The U.S. Travel Association recently held its annual Marketing Outlook Forum in Ft. Worth, Texas.  The forum provides an opportunity for attendees to network with fellow tourism industry representatives from other states and serves as a great chance to learn and gain insight into what experts see as the trends for the coming year. The [...]

I am extremely proud to announce the launch of an innovative, first-of-its-kind digital brand awareness co-op program with Google. VISIT FLORIDA is the first partner to pilot this new program, developed by Google specifically for the travel industry. “The VISIT FLORIDA team has worked to craft a co-op program that leverages the online reach of [...]

I am proud to announce that VISIT FLORIDA is working with Google to publish travel stories on a new smartphone and tablet application called Google Currents that has just been released. Launching on Android devices, iPads and iPhones, Currents lets users explore online magazines and other content with the swipe of a finger.  VISIT FLORIDA’s [...]

Against the backdrop of increasing competition, massive disruption, and revolutionary technological advancements, 167 Florida tourism industry leaders met at the annual VISIT FLORIDA Marketing Retreat to begin to set the course for VISIT FLORIDA’s  2012-2013 Marketing Plan. I would like to personally thank all who attended for taking the time out of your very busy [...]

As the college football regular season comes to a close, I am proud to announce the winning university in the Florida Fan Game contest. The Florida Fan Game is an initiative of VISIT FLORIDA’s Share A Little Sunshine program, engaging Floridians to support tourism by inviting friends and family to visit the state. The head football coaches [...]

VISIT FLORIDA is proud to announce the selection of SapientNitro, part of Sapient Corporation (NASDAQ: SAPE) as its new lead agency of record.  The official announcement, which included the retention of Miles Media Group as part of the digital team, was made during the closing session of VISIT FLORIDA’s annual Marketing Retreat in Orlando. “Over the last [...]

With over 150 Florida industry representatives in attendance at World Travel Market 2011, many of you reading this blog are well aware of the buzz surrounding the show this year.  There was much anticipation for the brand reveal by the Corporation for Travel Promotion.  ”Brand USA,” as it is now known, was launched during two [...]

Tomorrow morning, millions of Americans will watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the first of several treasured Thanksgiving rituals.  On the same day, more than two million Americans of Latino heritage also will be watching TV, hearing stories of Jamestown and Plymouth … and of another Thanksgiving 56 years previous, in St. Augustine. VISIT FLORIDA [...]

According to a study released in February 2011 by the Convention Industry Council – widely recognized by the tourism industry as the first, definitive, qualitative, research-based analysis of the economic significance of meetings in the U.S. – nearly 1.8 million meetings took place, attended by 205 million participants, generating over $263 billion in direct spending and [...]

I am pleased to announce that preliminary estimates* of visitors to Florida for the third quarter of 2011 (July-September) show an estimated 20.4 million travelers visited the Sunshine State.  This represents an increase of 5.1 percent from the same period in 2010.  In addition, Florida’s tourism-related employment for the third quarter of 2011 was 1,009,500, [...]

October marked “Florida Camping Month” in the Sunshine State.  To celebrate, the I-10, I-75, I-95 and US-231 Official Florida Welcome Centers all took a creative and interactive approach to making Camping Month a huge success. Each October, the Official Florida Welcome Centers – managed and operated by VISIT FLORIDA – promote “Florida Camping Month” by setting up [...]

VISIT FLORIDA and our advertising agency-of-record Alma DDB were honored with a top award in the most competitive category of the prestigious Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 2011 Multicultural Excellence Awards.  The win came in the category of “Campaign with Significant Results” for VISIT FLORIDA’s “Your Florida Side” campaign. The campaign was recognized for having a [...]

I am excited to share with you that the Corporation for Travel Promotion will now be conducting business as “Brand USA, Inc.” Created in 2010 to encourage international visitation to the United States, the Corporation for Travel Promotion – now Brand USA, Inc. – has developed a new global brand and positioning strategy that focuses [...]

The 44th Annual Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held September 25 – 27 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, was quite a success with more than 750 members of the travel industry, nearly 100 exhibitors and sponsors, and over 20 industry speakers in attendance. Each year, VISIT FLORIDA hosts this premier educational conference [...]

Advice from friends and family is the most trusted source of travel planning information.  Knowing this, VISIT FLORIDA created our Share a Little Sunshine platform to engage Florida’s more than 18 million residents in supporting the state’s economy by inviting their friends and family to visit the Sunshine State. Since launching Share a Little Sunshine [...]

Visa reform is a quick way back to new jobs through increased visitation and economic development from international markets.  These reforms will have significant positive impact on Florida’s tourism industry.  I urge you to read the alert below from the Power of Travel Coalition and support the cause as directed. Urgent Action: Contact Congress to Support Visa Reform [...]

As the official tourism marketing corporation for the state, VISIT FLORIDA is committed to providing leadership that will ensure Florida’s tourism industry remains competitive and sustainable.  In order to accomplish this, it is important for VISIT FLORIDA to position itself as a thought leader and valuable resource to key Florida tourism stakeholders. One way VISIT [...]

Florida’s tourism industry hosted 11.1 million international visitors from 144 different countries who spent $10.6 billion in 2010.  These figures represent a 15.6% increase in international visitors and a 23.4% increase in their spending over the previous year.  Air travelers make up 88% of Florida’s international visitors, an increase of 14% from the prior year. [...]

The recently released 2010-2011 Industry Satisfaction Study showed that those surveyed were 81% satisfied with how VISIT FLORIDA is promoting tourism to the state.  This represents a nearly five point jump from the score we received last year and one of our highest scores since 2005.  Nearly 70% rated their overall satisfaction with VISIT FLORIDA [...]

On Sunday, September 25, in conjunction with the Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism held in Hollywood, industry members joined forces to participate in a unique corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, sponsored by Collinson Media & Events. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the organization’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its [...]

It was my distinct pleasure, during the 44th Annual Florida Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held September 25-27 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, to announce the 2011 Florida Tourism Hall of Fame and Tourism Honor Roll inductees, as well as the winners of the Flagler and Iris Larson Awards.  Annually, leaders in [...]

I am pleased to announce that the 2010-2011 VISIT FLORIDA Annual Report is now available.   For the second year, we have created the report in an interactive online format.  We hope this will allow viewers to move more easily through the wealth of information on VISIT FLORIDA’s marketing programs that were undertaken this past fiscal year. [...]

Sen Detert is considering a bill this session that would greatly facilitate toursim in florida by expanding the sister cities program: an idea that was started in the special session last year -- as each city in florida rapidly develops this network of relationships tourism is a key component of it. In Sarasota alone in addition to tourism from South America and elsewhere most of our top end RE sales are coming in many cases from the relationship... [read more]

As the official tourism marketing corporation for the state, VISIT FLORIDA is committed to providing leadership that will ensure Florida’s tourism industry remains competitive and sustainable.  One way VISIT FLORIDA accomplishes this is through the production of its “Log-In & Learn” educational webinar program.  This effort is designed to provide Florida tourism businesses with access to [...]

As we are now in the peak of hurricane season, I wanted to share the resources and action steps VISIT FLORIDA has developed to ensure Florida’s visitors have access to consistent, real-time, statewide information.  It is our hope that these efforts will allow our visitors to make the most informed travel planning decisions possible in [...]

Today as we celebrate the start of college football season, VISIT FLORIDA launches the “Florida Fan Game,” a contest to help Florida’s tourism-based economy and show which university has Florida’s best fans.  The Florida Fan Game is an initiative of VISIT FLORIDA’s Share A Little Sunshine program, engaging Floridians to support tourism by inviting friends [...]