Florida has set some ambitious targets
J. William Seccombe, president and chief executive officer of Visit Florida is a man on a mission and a man in a hurry. He, in conjunction with his state colleagues including Governor Rick Scott, has set some ambitious targets for the state of Florida. Number one destination in the world, over 100 million visitors, number one destination marketing organisation in the world and to add more value than any other tourism body….(yes, you got it) in the world. Well that should keep him busy till lunchtime.
But in all seriousness how does one go about approaching such a task?, writes Graham McKenzie.
Well the first thing is to ensure you have the politicians on your side and that they recognise the value both socially and economically of tourism.
In Governor Scott, Visit Florida has an excellent ally who does indeed put great importance on this sector of the economy and has shown his commitment by allowing increased budgets and putting his weight behind projects such as the new fast train links between Miami and the central Florida visitor hotspots of Orlando and Kissimmee.
Having the support is one thing but actually doing the job is another and Seccombe and Visit Florida have embarked on campaigns which support the entire Floridian tourism industry. Drawing attention to some of the lesser known facts, sites, events, attractions and destinations, has enabled the travel trade to come up with varied and exciting programmes that allow the visitor to enjoy a mixture of activities and more importantly spend more visitor dollars.
The tactic appears to be working with 100 million visitors due to arrive to the state in 2015, 2016 or as Seccombe said, "who know what the figures will look like at the end of 2014. So far it has been a blockbuster year".
So what problems lie ahead? Which areas still require attention? Well the obvious one is the ports of entry. When asked about it he gave what appears to be the standard answer from tourism leaders here in the States.
"Yes we are aware of the issues and of course we are concerned and all solutions are being looked at. We have made some improvements and the projects running with immigration and customs being handled at the port of departure such as Dublin are promising. In addition the use of Fort Lauderdale as a port of entry in addition to our other international airports is also encouraging," he said.
So what is left to do? What tourism stone has remained unturned? The somewhat surprising response was "food".
"The quality and variety of Floridian food remains somewhat of a state secret and we want to make it a global fact. We have an abundance of natural riches and some of the best chefs in the world live here in the state of Florida. Tourists can choose to do many things but they have to eat and we can provide some of the best cuisine in the world. That is another piece in the jigsaw," he said.
Diane
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