For 15 years, Visit Florida, a public/private marketing partnership, has been successfully luring tourists from around the world to visit the beaches, parks, attractions, hotels and restaurants of the Sunshine State.
But under massive government reorganization bills championed by Gov. Rick Scott and introduced recently in the House and Senate, Visit Florida ? now led by a board of 53 diverse tourism industry leaders ? is in jeopardy of losing its autonomy and being gobbled into a goliath economic-development bureaucracy.
Instead of tourism experts calling the shots to promote tourism statewide, leadership would be in the hands of 11 political appointees. They would oversee the entire new department that would combine three agencies: the governor?s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development; the Agency for Workforce Innovation, and the Department of Community Affairs, which oversees growth management. Other public/private partnerships, including Enterprise Florida, Sports Foundation, Black Business Investment Board and Space Florida, also would be merged into the new department.
?It really doesn?t make any sense,? said William D. Talbert III, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
?Visit Florida has been such a successful tourism marketing model. Other states have copied it.?
But to Scott, it makes smart business sense to consolidate the funding and manpower of all entities that involve economic development into one mega department.
?When you don?t have one person looking over everything, it makes it more difficult to get things done,? Scott said in January when he described his streamlined job creation strategy.
The new department is called Jobs Florida in the House?s 677-page proposal and the Department of Economic Opportunity in the Senate?s 722-page version.
Visit Florida supporters are concerned the planned merger would put control of the state?s tourism marketing back in the hands of political appointees, as it was until 1996, when tourism promotion was moved from the now defunct Commerce Department to a newly created Visit Florida.
It was a time when tourism in the state was struggling to recover from a slew of tourist slayings and headlines like the one in 1994 in the Toronto Star: Surviving that trip to Florida -- A few helpful hints to avoid the bullets while catching rays.
?Gov. [Lawton] Chiles felt the state running tourism promotion was too political,? said Arthur Hertz, CEO of Wometco Enterprises Inc., which owns the Miami Seaquarium.
?We felt it could be run more efficiently by the industry and with industry money. The whole concept was for the industry to put in twice as much as the state.?
Visit Florida is partially funded by a portion of a $2-a-day car rental surcharge and general revenue that totaled about $26 million this fiscal year. But a majority of its funding has come from the 9,300 tourism businesses that voluntarily partnered with the organization, which contributed about $40 million this fiscal year.
During its 15 years in existence, Visit Florida has spent $1.1 billion to promote Florida as a tourist destination. Public money: $350 million. Private money: $776 million.
Andrew Hertz, Arthur Hertz?s son and executive vice president and general manager of the Miami Seaquarium, said if the massive reorganization plan is approved, funding from the merged entities would be thrown into a big pot. Hertz said that likely would lead to less private money.
Harold Wheeler, executive director of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council in the Florida Keys, agrees: ?We have to feel confident our marketing dollars are used for marketing purposes and not political purposes.?
In a letter to Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, chair of the House Select Committee on Government Reorganization, Hertz wrote: ?By combing Visit Florida with other agencies you will eliminate the industry?s feeling of self-governance. ? You will kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs.?
In 2010, Florida?s tourism industry hosted 83 million visitors who spent $61 billion and supported 1 million jobs, according to Visit Florida.
The organization, with a staff of 98, operates five official Florida Welcome Centers and has a dedicated office in Miami that serves Latin America.
?Tourism is a cash cow that has to be fed,? said Nicki Grossman, president and CEO of the Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and a member and past chairman of Visit Florida. ?To even hint at a dilution of marketing dollars for Visit Florida is a scary prospect ? especially after you look at what happened to us with the Gulf oil spill.?
Visit Florida?s board was able to act quickly and advertise to targeted markets that oil had not reached most of the state?s coastline. Said Grossman: ?We saved the summer for most of Florida.?
Miami Herald staff writer Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.
travel systems travel trailer travel trailers traveler travelers insurance
No comments:
Post a Comment