How Bad Is The Bill That's Been Passed on Visit Florida?

The tourism industry is freaking out over what the Florida House of Representatives voted for last week. If you're not in the know, there was an 80-35 vote to cut funds dramatically to Visit Florida tourism agency. They also placed restrictions on how the agency uses their money. This was due, in part, to the lack of transparency in Visit Florida's spending. A recent leak showed that they paid $1 million to the singer Pitbull for him to appear in Florida-related ads. 

The tourism industry in Florida reached an all time-high last year and so it makes sense why everyone in the tourism industry is concerned by what's happening. In fact, residents of Florida are also worried because Florida's tourism industry has been the leading tax revenue generator and job provider for the state. If that goes, so many of Florida's people will take a hit as well.

Ken Lawson, the CEO of Visit Florida, is more than aware of the impact his company has on Florida's economy and he does not take this hit lightly. In a response to criticisms of some of their past deals, the company has taken measures recommended by Go. Rick Scott to make the organization more transparent.

Several news outlets freaked out over the news by dubbing it the 'end of the tourism industry as we know it', basically. Should small business owners panic? No way! There are several things to this here and we shouldn't let the news dictate the energy of the situation. Are they creating a storm out of nothing? Not quite. Yes, it's serious news that Visit Florida has budget cuts, but this will not mean the end to the tourism industry. If anything, we will continue to see a steady increase in tourism numbers.

Visit Florida is a large organization. Although many might have mixed feelings about what their doing to the state, and what the company stands for, the fact remains that by cutting budget Visit Florida will be affected slightly, but not dramatically. Visit Florida has already made efforts to showcase their transparency and this is a step in the right direction. Ken Lawson is also no dummy and he knows that despite the bill passing, his company will rise again. Visit Florida will still be spending money on marketing, albeit not as much.

Advertisers are still interested in attracting down Florida tourists and those marketing campaigns will not stop. Even if Visit Florida were to disappear in a day, Florida still has two tourism leaders in their corner, Visit Orlando and Experience Kissimmee. What many news outlets forget is that Florida's tourism and marketing has invested interest from advertisers like Coca Cola and Disney and there's no way they're going to let Florida slip by the wayside.

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