Sunshine Matters

Florida Huddle 2015, held Jan. 14-16 in Broward County, was a resounding success in its second year of being owned and operated by VISIT FLORIDA.  Three high scores for this travel trade show continue to tell the story of Florida Huddle: more buyers, more time for appointments, more Florida travel business transactions.  Sponsored by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, the show was sold out, reflecting the tourism industry’s interest in the show.

The 668 delegates at Florida Huddle 2015 represented 395 companies from around the world.  The number of qualified buyers – 224 — who attended to broker deals with Florida’s travel suppliers was up 10% from last year.  They came here from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India, China, France, Spain, the Bahamas, Brazil, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

The bustling trade-show floor in the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center exhibited 218 Florida travel companies, represented by 387 delegates presenting information about their destinations, products and services.  Florida Huddle business transactions took place over two full days, allowing buyers and suppliers to conduct 15,186 face-to-face meetings.  A 1:1 ratio of appointment-taking buyers (224) and suppliers (221) was maintained to ensure delegates had full, productive appointment schedules.

On day two, Florida Huddle 2015 hosted its first Meet & Greet event, placing media with public relations pros from Florida destinations.  Seventeen PR partners participated in this opportunity, which designated 90 minutes in a reserved space for one-on-one meetings with media representatives.  VISIT FLORIDA’s Public Relations team introduced the Meet & Greet format at Florida Encounter in December, where it was a big success.  For both Huddle and Encounter, media and PR representatives resoundingly endorsed the format as a highly effective way to build relationships with media and supply information leading to destination coverage in editorial media outlets.

That same day, top travel executives held a press conference to discuss tourism in Florida and the United States.  Will Seccombe, President & CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, kicked off the press conference by sharing details on Florida’s record visitation and booming international visitation.  Other panelists at the Florida Tourism Forum were Fernando Harb, Vice President of Tourism Sales for the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, and Kevin Wiatrowski, Regional Media Relations Manager for Visit Tampa Bay.  Travel media was well-represented at the press conference, with 36 media from 11 countries in attendance, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Brazil, Costa Rica, China, India, France and Austria. Here are a few examples of coverage to date: Irish Travel Trade News, Voyagers World, and Sun-Sentinel.

Special thanks to the destination sponsor of Florida Huddle 2015, the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, as well as all other sponsors.  Next year, Visit Tampa Bay will host Florida Huddle Jan. 26-28, 2016 and is inviting all attendees to stay for Gasparilla.  To learn more about this world famous pirate festival, click here.  For more about Florida Huddle, go to www.FloridaHuddle.com or visit the Florida Huddle media site.