Sunshine Matters

During a press conference at The Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens this morning, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any nine months in the state’s history with 85 million visitors.  This record amount of out-of-state and international visitors represents a 5.5 percent increase over the same period last year.  In the third quarter of 2016 (July-Sept.), 26.9 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 5.1 percent over Q3 2015.  This marks Florida’s largest third quarter for visitation ever.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter three of 2016 was also a record high, with 1,241,300 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 4.1 percent year over year. Continue reading »

During a press conference at the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers this afternoon, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any six months in the state’s history with 57.4 million visitors.  This record amount of out-of-state and international visitors represents a 4.3 percent increase over the previous year.  In the second quarter of 2016 (April -June), 27.3 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 3.1 percent over the same period in 2015.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter two of 2016 was also a record high, with 1,255,200 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 4.3 percent year over year. Continue reading »

During a press conference at the Clearwater Aquarium this morning, Governor Rick Scott announced that 29.8 million out-of-state and international visitors came to Florida in the first quarter of 2016 (January-March), marking the highest number of visitors in one quarter in the state’s history.  This is an increase of 4.8 percent over the same period last year and exceeds the previous high of 28.5 million in the first quarter of 2015. Continue reading »

During a press conference at Epcot this morning, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming 105 million visitors in 2015.  This is the fifth consecutive record year for visitation to Florida, exceeding the previous high of 98.5 million in 2014 by 6.6 percent.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in 2015 was also a record high, with 1,199,200 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 53,400 or 4.7 percent over the same period last year.  Click here to see a quick YouTube video of the announcement. Continue reading »

Today Governor Rick Scott released his 2016-17 “Florida First” budget.  I am happy to share that the Governor recommended an $80 million investment in VISIT FLORIDA.  With this funding, VISIT FLORIDA will focus on continuing to create successful integrated global marketing efforts that maximize the economic impact of travel and tourism to Florida. Continue reading »