Sunshine Matters

On the surface, this week’s release of Q2 (April-June) visitor numbers was good news for the Florida tourism industry because more Americans chose to spend their precious time and hard-earned money in the Sunshine State than they did over the same period last year.

However, the increase in year-over-year visitors masks a significant reversal in the trending growth of Florida’s market share of domestic visitors.  Florida’s share of domestic travel steadily increased from 2006-2009 and, for the last 18 months, the state has continually outpaced the rest of the U.S. in terms of total rooms sold. While the total rooms sold in the Sunshine State increased last quarter, Florida’s share of domestic travelers actually declined.

Leisure Travel Market Share

Clearly, the April 20th explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and intense media coverage of the resulting oil spill, have negatively impacted the Florida tourism economy.  Multiple primary and secondary research projects indicate that nearly 100 percent of Americans have closely followed the news of the Gulf oil spill.  Resulting misperceptions of the actual effects of the spill on the Florida tourism product have had a negative influence on the Florida tourism brand, as well as the brands of Florida’s beach communities.

A July 21st survey conducted for VISIT FLORIDA by Ypartnership, indicated that 80 percent of Americans believed that oil had already washed up on Florida beaches, and 93 percent believed that Florida would have oil on her beaches by the time the crisis was over.

Traveler Misperceptions Impact Travel Intentions

Another July 21st study by the Conde Nast Traveler Research Center indicated a disturbing level of consumer misperception about the impact of the spill on Florida’s beaches.  When asked where oil was present on the shores of Florida’s beaches, readers believed that there was oil in Northwest Florida (Destin- 58%, Panama City – 63% and Pensacola – 73%).  However, readers also incorrectly believed that there was oil on West Coast beaches from St. Pete to The Florida Keys (16%), South Florida from Miami to Palm Beach (8%) and all the way up the East Coast from Daytona to Amelia Island (5-6%).

The result of the misperception of oil on Florida’s beaches is that a significant number of leisure travelers are less likely to visit Florida now versus before the spill.  According to the same Ypartnership report, travelers were less likely to visit the following beach destinations in July and August of this year:

Pensacola                                                                 -28%

Destin/Ft. Walton Beach                                     -27%

Panama City Beach                                                -27%

Jacksonville Beach                                                -23%

Amelia Island/North Florida Beaches          -23%

Sarasota/Bradenton                                             -22%

Naples/Marco Island                                           -22%

St Petersburg/Clearwater                                  -21%

Miami Beach                                                            -21%

Cocoa Beach/Space Coast                                 -20%

Ft. Lauderdale                                                        -20%

St. Augustine                                                           -19%

Florida Keys                                                            -18%

To put these numbers into perspective, if Florida loses just 5 percent of annual visitors as a result of the oil spill, the economic consequences would equate to $3 billion in lost visitor spending, $182.5 million in lost sales tax collections and 48,000 lost jobs.

VISIT FLORIDA Advertising Generated Results

A third study conducted by Kerr & Downs Research July 30-August 2, 2010, supports the findings that  “everyone knows about the oil spill” and “the oil spill has had an impact on behavior,” but also acknowledges that “VISIT FLORIDA advertising is having an impact” as well.

In reaction to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, VISIT FLORIDA launched an aggressive integrated marketing campaign on May 15th.  The advertising was funded by the release of $2 million from the VISIT FLORIDA Economic Risk Fund, as well as $11.35 million of the $25 million that BP granted to the state for tourism marketing.  The campaign, which ran through July 18th, generated over 800 million advertising impressions in national newspapers, radio, broadcast and cable television and resulted in record traffic to www.VISITFLORIDA.com  in the month of June.

Click here to see a full timeline of the VISIT FLORIDA marketing response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Kerr & Downs research indicated that the aggressive advertising efforts had a positive influence, with 49 percent of respondents noticing the advertising and 22 percent attributing the advertising to VISIT FLORIDA.  The themes of the campaign – “Florida is Open for Business,” “Florida has 825 miles of beaches” and “Florida beaches are clean” – clearly resonated with travelers.  One quarter (25%) of respondents who had seen the ads indicated an increase in intention to visit Florida, as compared to 2 percent who were less likely to visit and 73 percent with no change in intentions.  Further, the increase in visits to www.VISITFLORIDA.com had an effect on actual travel to the Sunshine State, with 31 percent of those who visited the website increasing their probability of vacationing in Florida before Labor Day.

There is no doubt that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has had a negative near-term impact on the Florida tourism economy and, without the investment of significant marketing resources, the tourism industry in the Sunshine State will feel the negative effects for years to come.

Clearly, there is an immediate need to continue to fund aggressive statewide and local marketing efforts that will correct the misperceptions in the marketplace, put more heads in beds now and mitigate the long-term economic ramifications from the spill on the state economy.  The Florida tourism industry needs to recognize Governor Crist’s leadership and support his request of BP for an additional $50 million to fund continued destination marketing efforts.