Melissa Dewalt caught the travel bug a decade ago when she drove from her home state of Pennsylvania across the country to California to visit her then-boyfriend. She then road-tripped north to Seattle.
29.08.2024 - 05:40 / skift.com / Ron Desantis / Dawit Habtemariam / Dana Young
Visit Florida made its first public comment Wednesday about the removal of its “LGTBQ Travel” page, after more than a week of no explanation of why it was taken down.
“It’s fairly simple. Visit Florida is a taxpayer funded organization and, as such, Visit Florida our marketing strategy, our materials and our content must align with the state. Florida has always been and continues to be a very welcoming state,” said Dana Young, CEO and president of Visit Florida, in response to a question at the tourism bureau’s board meeting.
The page had provided information on beaches, destinations, businesses, and museums friendly to LGBTQ travelers. Skift reported on the page’s removal last week following a report by NBC News. Visit Florida did not respond to multiple requests for comment at the time.
Young’s explanation did not satisfy Rachel Covello, an attendee at the meeting who runs the travel blog OutCoast and who first noted the page’s removal.
“Her answer was a very surface, almost politically sounding answer that didn’t answer the question about where the website went,” she said.
In 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation (dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics) that banned discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of formal instruction in public schools.
At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis said he only knew about the page removal after it was taken down.
“I was aware after the fact. Our view as a state is we are the best place to visit, we’re welcome to all, but we’re not going to be segregating people by these different characteristics. That’s not how we’ve done business in any of things we’ve done,” he said. “I’m not sure how any of that stuff started or this. I’m aware of it now and I think nothing really changes and the fact is that Florida is going to remain a great place.”
For at least over a decade, Visit Florida has been actively marketing to LGTBQ travelers. “We supported LGTBQ travel for a long time, from sponsoring events at ITB to content to marketing. It’s been built in there for a long time,” said Will Seccombe, former CEO and president of Visit Florida from 2012 to 2017, in an interview last week.
Visit Florida is a public-private partnership. The state legislature allocated $80 million to Visit Florida for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Young, a former state legislature politician, was picked by DeSantis to head the organization in 2019.
While Visit Florida removed its page, other destination marketing organizations in Florida have kept their “Things To Do” pages geared toward LGTBQ travelers. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Visit Lauderdale, Visit Tampa Bay and Visit Orlando each still have their pages up.
“While Visit Florida
Melissa Dewalt caught the travel bug a decade ago when she drove from her home state of Pennsylvania across the country to California to visit her then-boyfriend. She then road-tripped north to Seattle.
Holland America Line will open up grand voyages and pole-to-pole sailings to travelers hoping to book just a segment, making it easier to explore some of the coolest regions on Earth.
Aug 28, 2024 • 0 min read
Aug 28, 2024 • 0 min read
Fans of upscale cruises are about to have a new option for sailings to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.
Aug 27, 2024 • 8 min read
Traveling during hurricane season, which spans from June to November, can be both thrilling and precarious.
For years, L.G.B.T.Q. people planning a trip to Florida could turn to the official website for Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing organization, for resources on where to go, what to eat and where to stay. While there are other resources for queer travelers, the site offered information about L.G.B.T.Q.-owned businesses that visitors could patronize as well as activities “appealing to a gay community looking for a sense of belonging and acceptance,” a page on the site once read.
While technological advancements in navigation aids, such as GPS and radar beacons, have rendered most lighthouses unnecessary, they remain as symbols of security and steadfastness along nations' shores.
It once was one of the South's best-kept secrets, but now the word is out.
Welcome back to our Saturday edition, a rundown of our best lifestyle reads. Moms always figure it out. That was the case for Suzanne Hayes, who moved her family of three into a hotel because it was cheaper than renting and came with amenities.
As summer begins to wind down, travelers are starting to hunt for bargains on fall and winter travel. Allegiant Airlines, a discount carrier based in Las Vegas, recently released tons of deals on flights for under $50 on theirdeals section throughout November, which they describe as a «great value.» Customers can get flights to popular destinations throughout Florida including Tampa and Orlando, as well as vacation spots such as Vegas or Nashville.