Sunshine Matters

Today, Governor Rick Scott released his 2017-2018 “Fighting for Florida’s Future” budget.  I am pleased to share that the Governor recommended a $76 million investment in VISIT FLORIDA.  Through this budget allocation, VISIT FLORIDA and our local tourism marketing partners will continue to promote the state’s diverse destinations to visitors across the globe, creating jobs and generating vital state and local tax revenue that benefit all Floridians. Continue reading »

With more than half (55%) of employees leaving days unused, America’s no vacation tendencies have created a stockpile of 658 million unused days.  What’s worse—employees forfeited 222 million vacation days in 2015.  The more than 600 million unused vacation days represent billions in lost economic potential.  Had Americans used the vacation time they earned in 2015, it would have meant $223 billion in spending for the U.S. economy. Continue reading »

Today marks two weeks on the job as President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA and I wanted to take this opportunity to share an update on our efforts to date. Continue reading »

I am pleased to share that today VISIT FLORIDA released a new Economic Impact of Out-of-State Visitor Spending in Florida study, which shows a rise in spending, revenue and jobs in the Sunshine State.  The study was conducted by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, over a six-month period in 2016. Continue reading »

January in London is famously gray, with an average of 19 rainy days and only 2-3 hours of sunshine per day.  That’s why, for the second year, VISIT FLORIDA and more than a dozen of our Industry Partners are joining forces to share “moments of sunshine” with potential Sunshine State visitors from the UK. Continue reading »