Skift Global Forum Preview: How Florida Tourism Is Winning the Race to Recovery
Photo Credit: Florida's outdoors and open door policy during the pandemic gave it a head start in tourism recovery. Flickr Commons / bebatut
Skift Take
For Visit Florida, the pandemic was a golden opportunity to boost its domestic market share while competitors remained restricted. And it worked — Florida's visitor numbers are on track for a record breaking year.
After over a year of restrictions on travel, U.S. destinations are busy recouping their tourism revenue losses this year, particularly from the domestic market. But one state has been well ahead of the visitor rebound: Florida.
Starting last summer, the Sunshine State took a big bet on marketing for tourism amid a pandemic — it kept an open-door policy and targeted Floridians as well as to domestic travelers yearning for outdoor destinations with unrestricted movement.
The campaigns were so successful that Americans were driving up to 700 miles to reach the state’s beaches and resort towns. Visit Florida’s first quarter results for 2021 showed domestic visitor levels were just five percent below 2019 levels. The second quarter is expected to set a new record.
Dana Young, CEO of Visit Florida, will be speaking at Skift Global Forum in New York City on September 21-23.
Skift Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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