Visit Florida future in jeopardy

Tourism marketing group is once again fighting for its life in the Legislature

TALLAHASSEE – The Sunshine State’s tourism marketing group, Visit Florida, is once again fighting for its life in the Legislature. Only this time the battle has been low-key and less vocal — at least so far.

The public-private group is set to expire on Oct. 1 if lawmakers don’t act to extend it, meaning House Speaker and Visit Florida critic Jose Oliva doesn’t have to do anything to allow its funding to fade away.

A Senate bill that would make it a permanent fixture has advanced to the floor, but it’s going nowhere in Oliva’s House.

That makes advocates who say the group is vital to the tourism industry very nervous.

“If Florida stops funding Visit Florida altogether, it would be detrimental to our businesses,” said Kara Lundgren, general manager of Circ Hotel in Hollywood, in a promotional video produced by Visit Florida. “We need to continue to prove that we are the best state for tourism.”

The promotion was the first indication Visit Florida will again, as they did in 2017, rally industry-wide support to lobby lawmakers to not eliminate the program or drastically cut it.

That year, then-Gov. Rick Scott made it a top priority to tout Visit Florida, as then-House Speaker Richard Corcoran pushed to defund the group and end “corporate welfare,” saying taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize private businesses.

Scott ran attack ads against his fellow Republicans and pressured House members not to vote on bills to remove the program. Tourism interests responded with their own loud rallies urging “full funding.”

The fight ended when Scott agreed to a top education priority of Corcoran’s in exchange for more transparency at Visit Florida and level funding of $76 million.

But Oliva, a Miami Republican and Corcoran’s successor, has the upper hand thanks to the Oct. 1 deadline.

Tourism interests are getting behind the Senate bill, but the series of loud rallies in the Capitol by tourism industry workers haven’t materialized yet. The battle could again come down to budget talks between the two chambers.

Senate President Bill Galvano said he believes in Visit Florida’s mission to bring more tourists to the state, especially in the wake of a natural disaster to convince prospective visitors to pick Florida for their vacations.

“Visit Florida has a very important role,” said Galvano, R-Bradenton. “Part of (the Senate budget) is for Visit Florida to start rebuilding their tourist industry (in the Hurricane Michael-battered Panhandle). But when I think of issues like Zika that cost hoteliers millions of dollars, red tide, algae blooms — we do need as a state some source of communication.”

Even with the Senate’s support, however, Visit Florida could face a stiff budget cut. The Senate’s initial budget only has $50 million, a $26 million cut on the current year.

Sen. Travis Hutson, the Senate’s top economic development budget writer, said $50 million is a starting point, and he’d like to boost spending in further talks with the House. But eliminating the program completely doesn’t make sense, he said.

“In my business back home we advertise, we market,” said Hutson, R-St. Augustine, vice president of Hutson Companies, a developer. “To come up here and say you’re not going to market and advertise for your business and get your tourism in here is a bad idea.”

That’s still more than the House’s initial spending plan, which has $19 million for the group, enough to keep it funded until Oct. 1.

Visit Florida was created in 1996 as a public-private partnership, with tourism interests acting to promote the state as a whole brand. Prior to its creation, though, Florida had a Commerce Department that kept track of tourism numbers for one of the pillars of the state’s economy.

Now, Visit Florida has that task. Its numbers show 126 million tourists came to Florida in 2018, a six percent increase from 2017.

Oliva said if Visit Florida goes away, they’ll look into replacing its functions that don’t directly support the industry.

“It’s not our intent to stop tracking tourism in the state of Florida,” Oliva said. “We’d figure it out.”