Sunshine Matters

VISIT FLORIDA’s International Marketing & Events team recently hosted a five-day sales mission to visit with key travel agencies and tour operators in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.  The week-long event, which included several added-value activities, offered a great opportunity for VISIT FLORIDA and five of our Industry Partners to provide updates on what’s new in Florida to a total of nearly 300 Nordic travel trade representatives.

The mission included various sales meetings, workshops, training sessions and networking events with more than 180 agents and operators.  VISIT FLORIDA also hosted a workshop in Stockholm, Sweden for 40 agents and participated in the Discover America workshop in Malmo, Sweden where we had the opportunity to address 60 additional agents.  At both events, VISIT FLORIDA gave away a Florida trip which included complimentary airline tickets from Norwegian Airlines.  Specifically for our key travel trade contacts, we hosted a VIP dinner in Oslo, Norway and a VIP luncheon in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Following last year’s introduction of the Norwegian direct air services from Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen to Fort Lauderdale, awareness and demand for Florida as a holiday destination is growing in the Nordic region.  To meet the demand, Norwegian Airlines recently announced that they will introduce direct Copenhagen to Orlando service in Spring 2015. Sweden currently ranks 17th and Norway 19th in international visitation numbers to Florida, and through additional airlift opportunities like these we hope to continue to expand this market.

Special thanks to our industry partners – Experience Kissimmee, Florida Keys and Key West, Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, Hertz Corporation and Sawgrass Mills-Simon Property Group – for supporting this mission, which we plan to repeat in September 2015.

To learn more about our many international travel trade outreach opportunities, please check out the VISIT FLORIDA Marketing Planner or contact me at aabney@VISITFLORIDA.org.