Sunshine Matters

On the surface, this week’s release of Q2 (April-June) visitor numbers was good news for the Florida tourism industry because more Americans chose to spend their precious time and hard-earned money in the Sunshine State than they did over the same period last year.

However, the increase in year-over-year visitors masks a significant reversal in the trending growth of Florida’s market share of domestic visitors.  Florida’s share of domestic travel steadily increased from 2006-2009 and, for the last 18 months, the state has continually outpaced the rest of the U.S. in terms of total rooms sold. While the total rooms sold in the Sunshine State increased last quarter, Florida’s share of domestic travelers actually declined. Continue reading »

Preliminary estimates* of visitors to Florida for the second quarter of 2010 (April – June) show an estimated 20.8 million travelers visited the Sunshine State.  This represents an increase of 3.4 percent from the same period in 2009.

While Florida as a whole showed an increase in visitors for the second quarter, we know that tourism businesses in oil-impacted parts of the state have suffered economically.  There can be little doubt that without Governor Crist’s intense focus and our aggressive tourism marketing efforts during May and June the Sunshine State could easily have been looking at a very different outcome.  Continue reading »

Can you believe Governor’s Conference is only a little more than a month away?  This year’s event will be held September 26-28 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

As many of you know, for more than four decades, this event has been recognized as the premier educational conference for the Florida tourism industry, providing the opportunity for participants to learn the latest in marketing strategy, receive critical research data and share best practices.  Given the year the industry has had, I think it’s safe to say they’ll be no shortage of lessons learned and great ideas to build off of when we gather together next month.  Continue reading »

Florida has long been the number one recreational fishing destination in the country for anglers, which rightly earned us the title of “Fishing Capital of the World.”   Fishing in the Sunshine State brings in $7.5 billion and supports 75,000 jobs.  With nearly 3.7 million residents and visitors who fish Florida’s waters annually, fishing is an integral part of the state’s tourism industry.   Continue reading »

With non-stop media coverage about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, many travelers understandably have questions about their Florida getaways.  VISIT FLORIDA, and our industry partners, have been working hard to be a source of information for travelers and to promote vacation opportunities across the Sunshine State. Continue reading »