Sunshine Matters

Today the Florida tourism industry mourns the passing of one of its greatest leaders.  Thom Stork played a vital role in regional and state tourism development, including serving as part of the team that led to the formation of VISIT FLORIDA.  Thom served as VISIT FLORIDA’s Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2005-2006, was a member of the Florida Council of Tourism Leaders and continued his service as a current member of VISIT FLORIDA’s Audit Committee.   Continue reading »

During a press conference at The Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens this morning, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any nine months in the state’s history with 85 million visitors.  This record amount of out-of-state and international visitors represents a 5.5 percent increase over the same period last year.  In the third quarter of 2016 (July-Sept.), 26.9 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 5.1 percent over Q3 2015.  This marks Florida’s largest third quarter for visitation ever.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter three of 2016 was also a record high, with 1,241,300 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 4.1 percent year over year. Continue reading »

I am proud to announce that Carlos Gazitua was officially confirmed as a member of VISIT FLORIDA’s Board of Directors during the recent Enterprise Florida board meeting.  Having already been approved by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Carlos will fill a vacated regional seat.  His term begins immediately and runs through June 30, 2018.  Carlos, who serves as the President and CEO of Sergio’s Restaurants, is the creator of Sergio’s Cuban Café and the La Flaca™ brand. Promoting healthy cooking alternatives for Cuban food, The La Flaca™ menu has transformed the way people eat Latin and Cuban cuisine in South Florida. Continue reading »

Florida communities have been busy in the week since Hurricane Matthew rolled up our East coast.  Several counties reported very serious damage from the storm, many areas were very fortunate to receive minimal damage and all of the state was impacted by the dramatic media coverage of the first major hurricane to hit the U.S. in a decade.  This week, I joined Carol Dover and her team with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association to tour some of the areas of our state most impacted by the storm and to offer the assistance of the Florida tourism industry in their recovery efforts. Continue reading »

Hurricane Matthew was a very dangerous storm and, while we are fortunate that the vast majority of Florida did not see significant impacts, we do have several communities that sustained serious damage.

Last week, the VISIT FLORIDA team was focused on the safety of our visitors and fellow Floridians.  This week, we are shifting our focus to recovery and to letting the world know that the Florida tourism industry is open for business. Continue reading »