Sunshine Matters

Two consecutive years of record visitation.  A record 26 million visitors in Q1 2013.  Thirty-six consecutive months of job growth and a record 1,080,000 Floridians employed in the hospitality industry.  Florida is the No. 1 domestic vacation destination, the top family vacation destination, the top U.S. beach destination, the top vacation destination for Baby Boomers and Millennials, the  No. 1 destination for African American leisure travelers and one of the top international travel destinations.

The Florida tourism industry has a tremendous amount of momentum, and momentum is a very powerful force.

When you have the kind of momentum that we have right now you can do one of two things.  You can hop on and enjoy the ride, or you can double down and work even harder.

VISIT FLORIDA is committed to re-doubling our efforts.  We are in the third year of a massive re-engineering to maximize the impact of our integrated marketing efforts and to improve the efficiency of the organization. In the last two years, we have:

• Reviewed 12 ITNs and hired a new agency of record
• Reviewed all international agencies and representatives
• Launched a new brand campaign – Must Be the Sunshine
• Launched a new website with a new content management system
• Launched a new customer relationship management system
• Launched a new accounting system
• Created a revolutionary content initiative that has produced over 700 stories, videos, photo essays and infographics
• Brought all ad sales and ad operations in house

While our budget has more than doubled, we are operating with less employees today than we had on staff four years ago.

The result is an organization that is keenly focused on creating and adding value to our tourism industry Partners, so that together we can make Florida the No. 1 travel destination in the world.

Thanks for all that you do to build the momentum of the Florida tourism industry.