USA: Florida Tourism Boosted By Canadian Visitors

Florida’s tourism arm is touting marketing efforts that attracted an increase in travelers from America’s northern neighbor, less than a year after admitting the state had taken its Canadian visitors for granted.

Visit Florida announced Monday that its expanded attention on Canada played a role in the nearly 4 percent growth in tourism from 2016 to 2017.

The rise in Canadians comes as the state continues to experience a decline in overseas travel, which has fallen more than 6 percent over the past two years.

By creating innovative programs such as the Canadian Power Play Program and the Canada Takeover, we made it more exciting and affordable to visit the Sunshine State, Visit Florida President and CEO Ken Lawson said in a press release.

We will keep working to send a warm, open and welcoming message to our Canadian friends, and let them know that there is no better time than right now to visit Florida.

The power play program offered 20 percent discounts on airfare, rental cars and lodging to balance the stronger American dollar.

The takeover was the fall and early winter marketing campaign, which included wall murals; digital columns and digital billboards; advertising on underground transit networks in Toronto and Montreal; partnership programs with The Weather Network, Air Canada Vacations and Expedia.

As well as a paid push on social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Visit Florida spent $1.8 million last year on its Canadian marketing efforts, up from $1 million in prior years.

Susan Harper, Consul General of Canada in Miami, said in the press release the marketing effort resonated with Canadians for its focus on warmth, diversity, openness and inclusion.

Last July, Lawson told a group of Canadian tourism industry leaders that the public-private tourism agency had taken this market for granted.

We have the snowbirds with their Florida vacation homes. They're kind of like, We've been there, done that.

We have new Canadians. And we have the millennials, and they're saying, We don't want to do what our grandparents did, Lawson said while in in Toronto for meetings with travel industry leaders.

Scott traveled to Toronto in November for a two-day tourism and business mission to announce the marketing plans.

The estimated number of Canadian tourists grew from 3.35 million in 2016 to 3.48 million last year.

The latest numbers from Visit Florida were slightly revised upward, using input from Statistic Canada, since first posted on March 20.

Tourism numbers from Canada had been falling since a high of 4.2 million in 2013, due in part to the weakened Canadian dollar against its U.S. counterpart.

Overall, the state recorded 102.3 million domestic travelers last year, up from 97.9 million in 2016 and 91.3 million 2015.

Overseas travel to Florida dropped for the second consecutive year, from 11.4 million in 2015 to 11.1 million in 2016 and 10.7 million last year.

The tourism numbers for the first quarter of 2018 are not expected until mid-May.



Tourism Observer

USA: Struggle For Tourism Dollars, Governor Not Giving Up

The fight for tourism dollars is taking on a new twist.

It appears the Florida governor isn't giving up when it comes to marketing the state to tourists.

The legislature chopped the marketing budget from $76 million dollars to $25 million, but late this week, Governor Rick Scott vetoed that 67 percent cut.

The latest changes are not impressing some smaller attraction and destinations.

Brad Fox first heard about the St. Augustine distillery from a friend.

It was word of mouth and later I heard a commercial about it, Fox said.

That advertisement prompted him to visit and eventually bring friends and clients.

It's marketing like that which has people in the tourism business raising a glass.

However, the Florida legislature this year voted to chop the funding to Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing company.

Friday, Governor Rick Scott said he is vetoing that decision because he wants to keep the funding for Florida's tourism industry.

Phil McDaniel is on the board of directors at the St. Augustine Visitors and Convention Bureau, and he's also the president of the St. Augustine Distillery.

He said, I was happy the governor vetoed the bill because that means it was going to force the house and senate to come back and discuss the issue, which is a good thing.

But the problem is, he added, there are some restrictions that will limit how these moneys can be used.

McDaniel is referring to the proposed bill before the legislature now which says Visit Florida can only make matching contributions with private companies not with local visitor bureaus that run off of bed tax money.

So in the past, a small business like the St. Augustine Distillery could get a matching contribution from the state as well as from the local tax funded tourism bureau.

Under the new blueprint, the Visit Florida dollars would be out of reach for many smaller players.

So the large private companies are going to be the winners in this, McDaniel noted.

Think the big attractions in central Florida.

That's because, he says, the big companies are the ones who can afford to do big time marketing.

And marketing matters. Fox said it influences which destinations get his dollars.

Whether it be on the internet or on an app, it definitely plays a role in how I make decisions.

Legislators will take up the proposed tourism bill during its special session June 7 - June 9.