STATE’S TOURISM MARKETING UNDER SIEGE

LOCAL OFFICIALS QUESTION & OPPOSE HOUSE PROPOSAL

By Mandy Miles and Jim McCarthy

Astatewide tourism marketing arm charged with promoting Florida tourism to national and international markets could be in jeopardy of losing funds, if the Republican-controlled House has its way.

Recently, the House unveiled a bill that would essentially gut any state funding for Visit Florida, a nonprofit marketing corporation created by the legislature in 1996. Instead, the bill would force counties to fork over a percentage of their tourism development tax (TDT) dollars to fund Visit Florida for three years.

After those three years, counties would have the option to contribute funds to Visit Florida through their own, locally collected tourism tax dollars, if the county commission in that area votes in favor of such a move. But they could also elect to keep their revenue and not financially support the marketing program. Counties would also need to hold referendums every six years to continue collecting their tourist development taxes, also known as bed taxes, that are paid by overnight guests at Florida lodging establishments.

The proposal, which is far from a done deal, has local Republicans and tourism officials in the Florida Keys scratching their heads.

“I don’t understand it,” said Monroe County Mayor Craig Cates, a Republican on the county commission.

“Florida Speaker of the House Paul Renner is behind this, but it’s hard to understand. We’re constantly praising Florida’s tourism as the reason we don’t have a state income tax. But here he’s taking money out of both sides of things. Usually, you can see an endgame in these political moves, and eventually figure out what someone ultimately wants, but this one makes no sense. There’s so much opposition to it, I’m hoping it doesn’t get much traction.”

Republican state Rep. Mike Giallombardo, of Lee County, told House Regulatory Reform & Tourism Development Subcommittee members on March 28 that Visit Florida was essentially a startup to boost the state’s tourism industry. Statewide, revenue from TDTs exploded from $600 million in fiscal year 2012-13 to $1.5 billion some 10 years later.

“Now, we’re looking at some counties at $302 million a year in bed tax,” he said. “These counties are able to self-sustain so now they can start funding the program and we can start pulling ourselves off.”

The legislation would also force Visit Florida to spend at least 75% of all funds to assist what the House considers rural counties — and that doesn’t include Monroe County — and state parks and forests.

Visit Florida could be dissolved if funding falls below a certain amount or it accepts any money from the state, per the bill.

“This bill is intended to dismantle Visit Florida and over the course of a few years, dismantle local county tourism promotional efforts,” Stacey Mitchell, director of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, told the Keys Weekly on March 31.

“It’s being promoted by House Speaker Paul Renner, and as a Republican, you’d think he’d be pro-business,” Mitchell said. “Renner feels that the private sector in the tourism industry has made so much money in the last two years, and he’s absolutely correct. There’s been a historic amount of revenues collected since during the COVID pandemic. The speaker feels that private industry doesn’t need and shouldn’t rely on what he calls entitlement programs like Visit Florida and rental car surcharges that help fund Florida’s tourism marketing efforts. Apparently, he doesn’t realize that the reason Florida doesn’t have a state income tax is because of our tourism and its marketing efforts.”

The bill was ruled favorably out of the subcommittee on March 28 and could pass through the full House sometime this month. But if budget proposals by the two legislative chambers and the governor are any indication, the bill could face an uphill battle.

A House budget proposal released last month showed no funds allocated to Visit Florida. The Senate, however, allocated $80 million. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spending plan set aside $100 million.

“With the governor proposing $100 million for Visit Florida, I don’t see how Governor DeSantis could support this bill from Speaker Renner,” Mitchell said. “As I said at the recent TDC board meeting, we don’t know how far this bill will go, but this is just the start of potential huge changes to tourism and tourism funding given the amount of people moving into Florida — and into the Florida Keys — who don’t depend on tourism for their income.”

Visit Florida estimates that around 35.1 million visitors spent time in the Sunshine State between July and September 2022.

And with financial woes from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole last year, the state’s investment in Visit Florida could be more vital than ever before. In 2021, Florida’s Office of Demographic Research reported that for every $1 invested in Visit Florida, $3.27 is returned in tax revenue, the highest ever calculated for the organization.

“Visit Florida’s worth has been tested and proven. Governor DeSantis knows that tourism is Florida’s No. 1 industry and these additional dollars will be felt across every community in Florida and by every resident of this state,” said Dana Young, Visit Florida president and CEO.

Dan Samess, Marathon Chamber of Commerce CEO, said the bill would affect the livelihoods of many in the tourism sector.

“When you start talking about defunding or deregulating where funds go, it’ll not only hurt Visit Florida, which promotes the entire state to the world, it could also potentially affect local visitors’ bureaus like ours,” he said.