Sunshine Matters

The United Kingdom is ranked third in international visitation to Florida with more than 1.6 million visitors coming to the Sunshine State in 2013, a 5% increase over the previous year.  With this in mind, VISIT FLORIDA continues to show a huge presence in the UK by participating in the 2014 World Travel Market (WTM) and coordinating two additional events around the show.

VISIT FLORIDA and our Industry Partners once again exhibited at this year’s WTM.  This leading global four-day business-to-business exhibition presents a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and other international travel professionals by providing a great opportunity for them to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business.

The VISIT FLORIDA stand was enhanced to offer several advantages over last year. First, VISIT FLORIDA increased the size of the stand, allowing us to have a larger contingency of Florida Industry Partners at the ExCel Centre.  Second, we added an upper deck to the stand, providing an exclusive area in which to host our Media Reception, as well as additional appointments and meetings.  These changes also allowed us to bring in new Partners on the stand.  The buzz throughout the show was very positive, with business picking up for both suppliers and trade.   We want to thank all our Florida Industry Partners who continue to support us at this show and we look forward to an even bigger presence in 2015.

VISIT FLORIDA teamed up again this year with two of our Strategic Alliance Partners Hertz and Universal Orlando Resort to co-host our Media Reception on the upper level of the stand.  More than 54 key journalists, trade and industry representatives attended the two-hour event to learn the latest travel news from the Sunshine State.

As part of the event, Hertz organized WTM’s biggest selfie and promoted their Gold Plus Rewards Program, while Universal Orlando Resort shared details about preparations for their 25th Anniversary in 2015 and announced that a new Loews Hotels & Resorts property will be opening at Universal in 2016.  VISIT FLORIDA provided the media with our latest visitation numbers and updated the attendees on the Google Street View Trekker Program with the Florida Beach Finder tool.  Throughout the media event, journalists had an opportunity to win iPads loaded with the new VISIT FLORIDA Official Travel Guide app for international visitors.

Always one of the most coveted admission tickets at WTM, VISIT FLORIDA coordinated our 30th Annual UK Night at the iconic Abbey Road Studios.  With more than 240 Florida, UK and Irish industry representatives in attendance, the format of the event consisted of networking, dinner and entertainment.   The location for the event was certainly something to talk about and feedback from the guests has been outstanding.  Special thanks to this year’s five sponsors: Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB, Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, Greater Miami CVB, Orlando Flex Ticket and Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater who played an integral part in making this event such a success.

VISIT FLORIDA is looking forward to another successful event in 2015 and invite our Industry Partners to join us.  To learn more, contact me at cjones@VISITFLORIDA.org.