I am pleased to announce that preliminary estimates* of visitors to Florida for the third quarter of 2011 (July-September) show an estimated 20.4 million travelers visited the Sunshine State. This represents an increase of 5.1 percent from the same period in 2010. In addition, Florida’s tourism-related employment for the third quarter of 2011 was 1,009,500, up by 51,400 jobs, which reflects a 5.4 percent increase when compared to third quarter 2010. Continue reading »
October marked “Florida Camping Month” in the Sunshine State. To celebrate, the I-10, I-75, I-95 and US-231 Official Florida Welcome Centers all took a creative and interactive approach to making Camping Month a huge success.
Each October, the Official Florida Welcome Centers – managed and operated by VISIT FLORIDA – promote “Florida Camping Month” by setting up displays in their facilities and providing activities for visitors. This year, each center set up a campsite display in their lobby area, where visitors could “camp out,” as well as gather information to help plan their next camping trip or outdoor adventure in the Sunshine State. Throughout October, nearly 170,000 visitors to the four Interstate Welcome Centers had a chance to experience our Camping Month activities. Continue reading »
Advice from friends and family is the most trusted source of travel planning information. Knowing this, VISIT FLORIDA created our Share a Little Sunshine platform to engage Florida’s more than 18 million residents in supporting the state’s economy by inviting their friends and family to visit the Sunshine State.
Since launching Share a Little Sunshine in 2010, Floridians have embraced the campaign – sending more than 90,000 invitations to date. While we are understandably pleased with this level of engagement, VISIT FLORIDA wanted to determine how successful the program has been at actually converting invitation recipients into Florida visitors. Continue reading »
The recently released 2010-2011 Industry Satisfaction Study showed that those surveyed were 81% satisfied with how VISIT FLORIDA is promoting tourism to the state. This represents a nearly five point jump from the score we received last year and one of our highest scores since 2005. Nearly 70% rated their overall satisfaction with VISIT FLORIDA at either an 8, 9 or 10 – an increase of 11 percentage points in these three highest categories from the previous year. Continue reading »
Today as we celebrate the start of college football season, VISIT FLORIDA launches the “Florida Fan Game,” a contest to help Florida’s tourism-based economy and show which university has Florida’s best fans. The Florida Fan Game is an initiative of VISIT FLORIDA’s Share A Little Sunshine program, engaging Floridians to support tourism by inviting friends and family to visit the Sunshine State. Continue reading »
