Osceola tourism authority Experience Kissimmee launches marketing campaign promoting staycations

As the tourism industry continues its recovery from the ongoing effects of COVID-19, Experience Kissimmee is encouraging residents to take advantage of all the benefits of their own backyard — from staycations in vacation homes and family-friendly hotels to outdoor adventures and local bites.

“Our destination has so much to offer both vacationers and residents. As one of the top vacation destinations in the world, we’re at such an advantage to enjoy it all while staying so close to home,” says DT Minich, president and CEO of Experience Kissimmee.

The Osceola tourism authority’s latest marketing campaign focuses on just that, supporting local businesses along the West 192 corridor and greater Osceola County. “We’re thrilled to launch this new campaign toward locals to support our industry partners throughout the Central Florida area,” says Minich. As the COVID-19 pandemic brought business across the nation to a halt in 2020, Experience Kissimmee focused on supporting its industry partners by encouraging residents to order meals to go and to volunteer with organizations, both in-person or online.

Once Florida began to reopen in phases, Experience Kissimmee became creative with ways to market the area. The organization’s social media team launched a video series titled Kissimmee On-the-Go to showcase local attractions such as outdoor adventures and theme parks. The videos included new health and safety enhancements to help rebuild consumer confidence.

“At Fun Spot America our motto has always been safe, clean, fun, and the Kissimmee On-the-Go video allows guests a deeper look into our safety enhancements and philosophy,” says Molly Chidester, Fun Spot America marketing and communications manager. “By showcasing the cleanliness of our park, we want guests to feel safe while having fun during their visit.”

The video series details businesses’ cleaning procedures, such as Fun Spot’s sanitization between guests on rides and high-touch surfaces like railings and tables.

“Guests should keep in mind masks are required for entry at our parks, and by abiding by Fun Spot America’s posted rules and following the CDC guidelines, we will get through this,” Chidester adds.

Travel has begun to increase since the halt in business. Tourism recovery throughout the destination has been slow, but steady. At the start of 2021, Kissimmee saw an average booking rate of 45% to 50% percent with higher percentages on the weekends. Those numbers drastically increased in March, landing between 80% and 85% percent each week due to spring break schedules.

Kissimmee is known as the Vacation Home Capital of the World. It boasts 50,000 vacation homes of its 70,000 accommodations — from two-bedroom condos to 15-bedroom mega-mansions. Approximately half of the destination’s homes offer five or more bedrooms, an affordable option for multigenerational families traveling together, and 85% of homes offer access to a swimming pool.

Staycations in Kissimmee’s vacation homes are ideal for families who are ready to travel by car, but are not quite ready for air travel. In fact, more than three-quarters of March bookings were from Florida residents.

“Particularly during COVID, the vacation home offers safety and security for you and your family without the need to mix with others outside of your group,” says Sharon Harley, president of vacation home management company Jeeves Florida Rentals. “Various areas of the home offer a solution for everyone’s needs, parents working from home; kids’ entertainment; relaxation.” beautiful, private

The Kissimmee Sports Commission to maintain business in Kissimmee.

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The vacation homes are also “extremely cost effective when divided amongst the group,” Harley adds.

With tourism rebounding, Kissimmee’s meetings sector has also begun its comeback. Experience Kissimmee’s Meetings Sales and Services team has worked diligently throughout the pandemic to keep positive relationships with meeting planners. The team is continuing to book meetings throughout 2021 and is ahead of pace for 2022.

The success of in-person meetings in Kissimmee owes credit to a recent partnership with AdventHealth — including a Safety Hub of resources on Experience Kissimmee’s website. This includes access to AdventHealth’s medical experts, key health and safety vendors, discounted resources (personal protective equipment, rapid testing, temperature checkers, etc.), best practices consultations and complimentary marketing collateral to help guide safety messaging for events.

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“Our sports industry has been resilient throughout this pandemic,” says Minich. “We’ve had the opportunity to safely hold multiple events in the last year, from 75 participants to more than 5,000.”

The team currently has 14 scheduled events through Sept. 18, 2021. In the same period in 2020, the destination had four scheduled events — all of which were canceled.

For more information about Experience Kissimmee or the destination’s attractions and accommodations, visit experiencekissimmee.com/local.