Sunshine Matters

Last month, VISIT FLORIDA’s Public Relations team conducted a cross-Canada media tour to hold one-on-one appointments with Canadian media. International visitors are critical to Florida’s tourism revenue. On average, they stay longer and spend 1.9 times more per person than domestic visitors, making them an essential component in delivering high yield. Canada is Florida’s number one international market, welcoming 3.2 million visitors in 2016.

While the market is large, Canadian visitation to Florida has decreased year-over-year for the past three years. Many travelers feel that they know Florida all too well. This fatigue seems to be a contributing reason for some of the decline in Canadian visitation. We are challenging ourselves to enlighten potential visitors about all the things they haven’t seen or done in Florida. We turned to media to help showcase Florida’s lesser-known destinations and activities as we kick off our new plan to market the state’s diversity to the diverse Canadian market.

VISIT FLORIDA’s PR team went into market to meet with trade media and discuss the importance of Canadian visitation to Florida. The team talked about our increased focus and marketing spend moving forward, as well as new marketing ideas. Six publications featured Florida shortly after, including information about destinations and activities such as swimming with manatees in Crystal River, watching a rocket launch in the Space Coast, hang gliding in Kissimmee and seeing the Weeki Wachee mermaids. You can read one of the articles here.

Traveling across Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, the team also met with consumer media and influencers, and conducted multiple radio interviews. In total, we met with 35 different media, garnered earned media coverage in eight trade publication articles, and began working with 17 new influencers.

This week, VISIT FLORIDA’s President & CEO Ken Lawson is traveling to Canada to speak more with trade media and discuss our focus on the Canadian market. He will also be attending Destination Marketing Association International’s Annual Convention as a speaker.

For more information on VISIT FLORIDA’s efforts to promote the Sunshine State in Canada, check out our 2017-2018 Marketing Plan or to participate in an upcoming program, contact Summer Gonzalez, Public Relations Representative, at sgonzalez@VISITFLORIDA.org.