Despite the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma, the Sunshine State still posted record tourist arrivals for the first nine months of 2017.
Gov. Rick Scott said 88.2 million visited Florida through September, up 3.3% from last year.
That included 7.9 million international visitors and an extra 2.7 million Canadians.
That is mainly down to an ‘aggressive’ ad campaign by VISIT FLORIDA immediately after Irma hit to assure travelers around the world the state was quickly back on its feet.
Citing the ‘relentless work to market Florida as a top tourism destination’ Scott wants the State Legislature to pump $100 million into the agency to continue ‘breaking tourism records.’
"Back-to-back-to-back record quarters in the first nine months of this year show the Florida tourism industry has great momentum," Ken Lawson, president and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA said in a statement.
VISIT FLORIDA eventually got full funding of $76 million last time but only after agreeing to strict new transparency rules and disclosure about how the funding is spent.
It also included a cap on salaries and travel expenses.
Scott is targeting 120 million visitors to Florida by the year-end.
