Why Tourism Marketing Is Such a Political Issue in the U.S.
Photo Credit: Fort Myers Beach is pictured. Visit Florida, which promotes the state as a tourist destination, finds out soon whether it will be reauthorized to operate past September of this year. Unsplash / Alex Iby
Skift Take
Publicly funded destination marketing organizations are increasingly finding their mission questioned — and budgets threatened. Is it time for a reinvention?
As Visit Florida sounds the alarm over threats to its very existence, tourism experts around the country hear a warning.
While they believe Florida could find alternate ways to promote itself without government support, destinations without famous beaches and theme parks could have a much tougher time.
"If Florida falls, what does that mean for destination marketing across the country?" said Bill Geist, CEO of DMOproz, a consultancy that works with destination marketing organizations across the Americas.
The drama in Florida is the latest example of how hotly politicized publicly funded tourism has become in the U.S., mostly at the state and local levels. More and more, officials are debating the economic benefits of earmarking dollars to attract visitors, versus where that money in these cash-strapped times could best be spent elsewhere, like schools.
Florida's official tourism marketing organization is only authorized to exist through the end of September. After months
