Sunshine Matters

Today, VISIT FLORIDA’s President and CEO, Chris Thompson, was re-appointed to the U.S. Travel Association Executive Committee.  The U.S. Travel Association, made up of more than 2,100 members, is the national non-profit organization representing all components of the country’s $1.8 trillion travel industry.  Its 27-member Executive Committee is tasked with addressing pressing issues facing the travel industry and serves as a direct link between industry members and the U.S. Travel Board of Directors.

Four other travel industry executives from Florida also serve on the committee, including Gary Sain with Visit Orlando, Christine Duffy with Cruise Line International Association, Randy Garfield with Disney Destinations and Kelly Miller with Tampa Bay & Co.  Sain and Duffy both serve on the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors. Continue reading »

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 host Florida Tourism Day 2012. The purpose of this annual event is to educate the legislature, media and Floridians about the importance of Florida’s tourism industry and the rationale for the public funding request to increase tourism marketing efforts. It’s the perfect day to let your lawmakers know just how vital tourism is to our state and how crucial it is for them to support Florida’s No. 1 industry. Continue reading »

LEADERSHIP

• June 16: VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO, Chris Thompson conducted an interview with BBC Radio.
• June 17: VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO, Chris Thompson, participated in the Tallahassee Chapter of Florida Public Relations Association panel on tourism and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill response. Continue reading »

Yesterday, VISIT FLORIDA hosted the Tourism Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill webinar with more than 500 participants.  This program was developed to update the Florida tourism industry on the state’s marketing response and to share details on various resources available to them.

To view links to the PowerPoint presentation used in the webinar, the webinar audio synced to the slides, and a Q&A document from the questions submitted during the webinar, please visit  http://www.visitflorida.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Crisis_Preparation&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11642. Continue reading »

I recently posted a message on this blog about VISIT FLORIDA’s efforts to assist Florida’s tourism industry in addressing questions from consumers regarding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  Our team created palm cards that can be downloaded, printed and distributed to front-line employees, as well as separate palm cards for those working with the media. This morning, we updated the palm cards to reflect current messaging. Please ensure you are using the most up-to-date version and discard any previous versions. Use the links below to download the updated palm cards in PDF format.

Palm Card – Consumer (June 7 Update)

Palm Card – Media (June 7 Update)