Sunshine Matters

I am pleased to share that today Governor Rick Scott announced Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any nine months in the state’s history with 79.1 million visitors, according to VISIT FLORIDA.  This record amount of visitors represents a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year.  In the third quarter of 2015 (July-September), 25.5 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2014 and Florida’s largest third quarter for visitation ever.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter three was also a record high, with 1,195,400 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 5.2 percent over the same period last year. Continue reading »

In the first 6 months of 2015, the Florida tourism industry welcomed over 54 million visitors to the Sunshine State, putting us on pace to surpass Governor Scott’s goal of 100 million visitors and on target for a fifth consecutive record year.  Given these figures, one might assume that we would continue to employ the same strategies that have worked well for the last five years.  However, I am proud to share that VISIT FLORIDA will not be resting on our laurels. Continue reading »

I am pleased to share that today Governor Rick Scott announced during a press conference at the Miami International Airport that Florida has set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any six months in the state’s history with 54.1 million visitors.  This record amount of visitors represents a 5.8 increase over the same period last year.  In the second quarter of 2015 (April-June), 25.8 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 5.5 percent over the year.  The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter two of 2015 was also a record high, with 1,213,500 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 4.9 percent over the year. Continue reading »

I am pleased to share that today Governor Scott joined tourism leaders at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to highlight the $74 million allocation in the “KEEP FLORIDA WORKING” budget for VISIT FLORIDA.  This funding will allow our Partners in the Florida tourism industry to continue attracting record numbers of tourists to Florida. Last year, Florida welcomed a record 98.9 million visitors, who spent a total of $82 billion while in the Sunshine State. Continue reading »

Happy New Year!  The Florida tourism industry kicks off the new fiscal year with a tremendous amount of momentum.  Record visitors, record spending and record hospitality industry jobs.  I would like to thank Governor Scott and the entire Florida Legislature for their recognition of the economic impact Florida’s tourism industry brings to the state and their continuing support of public funding for VISIT FLORIDA’s marketing efforts. Continue reading »