Sunshine Matters

VISIT FLORIDA continued its tradition of success at the 45th annual U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow (IPW) in Las Vegas.  The five-day event had a record attendance of nearly 6,400 delegates from the U.S. and 70 other countries, including  1,300  international and domestic buyers and 500 media.  The 2013 IPW is expected to generate more than $3.5 billion in travel to the U.S. over the next three years.

In addition to VISIT FLORIDA’s International team having a full schedule of appointments on the trade show floor, our Public Relations team met with 80 international and domestic travel writers in the Media Marketplace.  The PR team pitched story angles, destinations throughout the state and owned content to targeted media from key markets including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil and India.  The PR team was also listed among the event’s “movers and shakers” by host TravMedia due to its high level of engagement in the IPW online newsroom and daily media summaries emailed to all event participants.

Another featured role for VISIT FLORIDA at this year’s IPW was as sponsor of the complimentary WiFi in the five hospitality lounge areas on the Brand USA Marketplace floor.  In order to take advantage of the free WiFi, attendees had to select the wireless network “VISIT FLORIDA,” then enter the username “flsunshine” and the password “welovefl.”

As part of IPW, VISIT FLORIDA hosted a reception for more than 50 members of the Canadian delegation and Discover America at the Cosmopolitan Hotel’s Comme Ca Restaurant.  Sana Keller, Vice President of the Board of the Discover America-Canada Committee and Eileen Forrow, VISIT FLORIDA’s Vice President of Marketing & Events, provided a welcome to the delegation and introduced Paul Phipps, our new Chief Marketing Officer to the group.  This event provided an excellent opportunity to thank the Canadian delegation for bringing their business to Florida, which accounted for a record 3.6 million visits to the Sunshine State in 2012 – an increase of 9 percent over 2011.

Overseas markets also continued to be an integral part of VISIT FLORIDA’s marketing efforts in 2012, with Florida reaching the milestone of more than 10 million overseas visitors for the first time in the industry’s history.  Given the growth and competitive environment in all international travel, IPW remains an important opportunity for VISIT FLORIDA to reach this increasingly vital visitor market.