Sunshine Matters

Governor Rick Scott and the “Sunshine Ambassadors” from VISIT FLORIDA returned from last week’s highly visible “Share a Little Sunshine” tour with a renewed commitment to the importance of tourism in Florida.  Governor Scott and the rest of the team spent two days in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago hosting Florida-themed events, speaking with potential visitors and meetings professionals, and awarding Florida vacation packages to lucky winners. 

“Tourism is the leading industry in the state, with more than 80 million visitors each year who provide jobs and tax revenue for the residents of Florida,” said Ed Fouché, Chairman of the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors and Senior Vice President–Travel Industry Sales for Disney Destinations.  “Our vision is to establish Florida as the No. 1 travel destination in the world and, with the leadership of Governor Scott, we will make this a reality.  In this intensely competitive business, we will win – we will grow market share – as we continue to execute innovative and high profile promotions.”

The Share a Little Sunshine tour follows on the heels of VISIT FLORIDA’s highly successful integrated marketing campaign in the same four key visitor markets.  In 2010, the “Your Florida Side Is Calling” campaign generated more than $147 in tourism spending and $9 in new sales tax collections for every $1 spent on marketing.

The four cities we visited on the tour have proven year after year to be Florida’s most important markets, but we know we cannot take their business for granted.  The fact that Governor Scott has taken the lead to grow Florida’s most important industry is a huge motivation to all of us in tourism and, we hope, to all Floridians.

The Share a Little Sunshine campaign was begun by VISIT FLORIDA in 2009 as a grassroots, social media effort encouraging Floridians to help increase visitor numbers – and, by extension, increase tourism jobs and grow the state’s economy – by sending e-mail invitations to their out-of-state friends and family to visit the Sunshine State.  The Share a Little Sunshine tour was created as a fun way to reach potential visitors in four of Florida’s key markets by extending a personal invitation from the Governor of the State of Florida.

“Share a Little Sunshine is not just a two-day marketing blitz,” said Will Seccombe, Chief Marketing Officer at VISIT FLORIDA. “This tour was an amazing example of Governor Scott’s commitment to the Florida tourism industry.  It is now our job to take the Governor’s lead and run with it.”

VISIT FLORIDA has created a few easy ways for Florida residents and businesses to become involved in the Share a Little Sunshine campaign:

• Go to ShareaLittleSunshine.org and send an e-postcard or e-video inviting out-of-state friends and family to visit Florida,
• Join the Share a Little Sunshine movement on Facebook at facebook.com/FloridaSunshine,
• Use this link to send an e-mail to other Floridians, asking that they forward it on to others they know in Florida, so that we quickly get the word out about Share a Little Sunshine to as many residents as possible, and
• Link to ShareaLittleSunshine.org on your website using this how-to information.

Share a Little Sunshine Tour Details:

The tour kicked off on Tuesday morning with a Florida tourism rally of students and industry leaders at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management.  The speakers, including Carol Dover with the Partnership for Florida’s Tourism, Rick McCallister with the Florida Retail Federation and Larry Cretul with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, pledged their support for the Share a Little Sunshine campaign and thanked Governor Scott for his willingness to lead the charge.

The first stop on the tour was an event on the National Mall in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. that was highlighted by an interview with Governor Scott by Fox News Channel personality Greta Van Susteren.  Stop two was at the Independence Visitors Center in Philadelphia where the team handed out Florida oranges and participated in a live radio remote with WOGL-FM.

Day-two, on Wednesday, began with the third stop of the tour in New York City, where Governor Scott was interviewed by Fox & Friends and the Brian Kilmeade Radio Show.  The team moved on to an event in Times Square where they talked to people in the street and handed out postcards, followed by a meeting professionals’ roundtable at 48 Lounge, a rally at Trump Towers where Governor Scott and Donald Trump addressed the crowd, and a final stop at the New York Stock Exchange for an interview with CNBC.

The fourth stop on the tour was Chicago, which included a meeting professionals’ roundtable at the Chicago Cultural Center, a stop at Sunda New Asian Restaurant where the Governor delivered fresh Apalachicola oysters to encourage business with the Florida seafood industry and spoke with personalities from the Food Network and other local media, followed by a rally at Midway Airport where more than 100 winners of Florida vacation packages to Walt Disney World were greeted by Mickey Mouse before leaving on Southwest Airlines’ “Florida One” plane bound for Orlando.