Sunshine Matters

Each year, VISIT FLORIDA conducts a Return on Investment Influencer Study which measures the collective impact of our marketing efforts on visitors’ decisions to come to the Sunshine State.  Results from the 2011 study show that, of the surveyed respondents who had been to Florida in the past year, 38.1 percent were significantly influenced in their decision to visit the state by one or more VISIT FLORIDA marketing initiatives.  This figure represents a 1.2 percentage point increase over 2010 and marks the third consecutive year of ROI increases, rising a total of 11.4 percentage points since 2008. Continue reading »

VISIT FLORIDA manages the state’s five Official Florida Welcome Centers located at I-10, I-95, I-75, US 231 and the Florida Capitol. As an invaluable resource for visitors to the Sunshine State, the knowledgeable and helpful staff in the Welcome Centers provide a wealth of information to millions of Florida visitors each year.  In addition to offering detailed travel planning advice, the centers also provide maps, brochures and even a free cup of Florida citrus juice!

As a fun way to engage Welcome Center visitors, and showcase all there is to see and do in the Sunshine State, each of the four highway Welcome Centers set up special displays that allow travelers to learn more about what’s happening in Florida at certain times of the year.

Every March, Florida plays host to 15 Major League Baseball teams who hold their annual spring training in venues throughout the Sunshine State.  As a way to showcase spring training in Florida to the nearly 235,000 visitors who passed through the highway Welcome Centers in March, employees donned Florida Grapefruit League jerseys and shared information about the upcoming game schedules and locations. They also created interactive displays so visitors could take pictures with “players” from their favorite teams. Continue reading »

As the state’s official source for travel planning, VISIT FLORIDA provides visitors with two key resources for discovering all there is to see and do in the Sunshine State.  The first is VISITFLORIDA.com, the most trafficked destination marketing organization website in the country.  The second is the VISIT FLORIDA Magazine, the state’s premier travel planning publication.

The most significant driver for traffic to the website and readers of the magazine is VISIT FLORIDA’s highly-successful domestic advertising campaign, Your Florida Side Is Calling.  For every $1 spent on tourism marketing, VISIT FLORIDA generates more than $177 in tourism spending and $11 in new sales tax collections.

In an effort to better understand the role the website and magazine play in converting viewers into visitors, VISIT FLORIDA commissioned a conversion study designed to measure the impact of these two tools and overlay those results with the advertising effectiveness research to see the comparative impact.  The study revealed that, of the 4.5 million visitors to the website during the survey period (excluding residents/relocators), 78% subsequently traveled to the state – representing 3.5 million visitors.  Among those website visitors who had not decided to visit the state prior to going to the site, 56% subsequently traveled to Florida.  This totaled one million visitors whose direct spending equaled $3.4 billion. Continue reading »

Today marked the conclusion of the 2012 legislative session, officially referred to as “sine die.”  With the end of session, came the passage of the 2012-2013 state budget.  I would like to share with you a statement we released to the media this evening reflecting VISIT FLORIDA’s funding appropriation for the coming year:

“The VISIT FLORIDA board and staff, on behalf of the statewide tourism industry, thank Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature for their confidence in our state’s No. 1 industry, and for their recognition that an investment of $54 million in cooperative marketing through VISIT FLORIDA is the quickest way back to jobs and economic development in Florida. Continue reading »

I am proud to announce VISIT FLORIDA’s new Airline Grant Program, which will support Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) within the state and stimulate the Florida economy by expanding international air service to the Sunshine State. VISIT FLORIDA will budget up to $250,000 per year through 2016 to support the program.

“The Airline Grant program is an innovative initiative that will ensure Florida remains at the forefront of international air service expansion opportunities,” said Chris Thompson, President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA. “As we continue to position ourselves as the No. 1 travel destination in the world, this is a great way for the state to attract new overseas travelers by creating inbound flights to Florida.” Continue reading »