Florida Attempts to Reinvigorate Space-Themed Tourism
Skift Take
By aligning their digital platforms, the Space Coast tourism bureau and economic development organizations illustrate the next generation of content marketing that both services travelers and drives destination development, while also inspiring some of the magic of the space race.
Florida’s Space Coast Office of Tourism in Cape Canaveral and the regional Space Florida economic development agency are working together to re-establish the area as a global hub for space-themed tourism and advanced aerospace industry.
After NASA's space shuttle program shuttered in 2011, the region immediately lost the throngs of visitors who came from around the world to watch the epic shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center.
However, the rocket launching business is actually better than ever these days due to the growing volume of government and commercial contracts. SpaceflightNow.com reports there are 24 lift-offs scheduled in 2015 "thanks to jam-packed manifests for SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to send up satellites for the U.S. military, NASA and commercial telecom operators."
The Space Coast Office of Tourism and Space Florida economic development agency obviously want to bring those rocket-watchers back to the region, but there are two big challenges. One, a Falcon 9 satellite rocket launch doesn’t have quite the same cachet in the minds of Americans that the manned space shuttles once did blasting off Kennedy’s massive gantries. Two, no one r
