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Visit Florida's Playbook: Tourism CEO's Marketing Strategy
28.04.2024 - 12:15 / skift.com / Dawit Habtemariam
Visit Florida is about to jump start tourism to its overlooked hidden gems in its northwestern region. The destination marketing organization was awarded a $10.5 million grant earlier this month to promote the eight counties in that region, said Visit Florida CEO and President Dana Young.
Young spoke with Skift about the grant, emerging travel trends in the state, how Los Angeles became a top inbound market, visa wait times, and more.
Skift: Visit Florida was recently awarded $10.5 million from Triumph Gulf Coast, a state-funded non-profit, to promote its northwestern region.
Dana Young: All eight counties that were included in the group of counties that were deemed impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill many years ago. All of those counties came together with support of their county commissions and they partnered with Visit Florida to get this grant.
Northwest Florida is so beautiful, sort of what you would think of old Florida, but beaches in that area, which we call the Florida Panhandle, are absolutely magnificent and uncrowded and certainly not as developed as you would see in South Florida. The counties are geographically large, but they’re less populated, some are more rural. It’s just a different feel up there.
What’s your marketing strategy for this hidden gem?
We’re going to do a two-pronged marketing approach that aims to level out seasonality and introduce that region to new markets around the U.S. There’s going to be a regional campaign called “Adventure Within Reach” that highlights adventure travel opportunities in all eight counties.
The second prong is we’re developing individual marketing programs for each of the eight counties in coordination with their DMO to highlight the specific things that they want to show to the rest of the country.
What are some other campaigns you have in the works?
We did get $5 million in our budget this year, specifically earmarked for nature-based travel and trails and trail towns. We started this campaign last year. Many people do not realize that Florida has over 15,000 miles of trails, and they aren’t just hiking trails. They are hiking, biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, scuba diving, horseback riding. We even have a fishing trail that’s launched. Focusing on those adventure activities, definitely a push for us.
We are definitely seeing a real trend with impulse travel, people that are just able to get up and go. And so we are really looking to target these millennials and young adults that are impulse travelers with campaigns that are focused on increasing desirability and bookings in the spring months that could just get up and go.
Last year, the NAACP put a travel advisory on Florida. Skift Meetings reported on a wave of
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