Good news: Driving tourism up

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Visit Florida added a couple of hundred miles to what it considers an easily drivable trip to the Sunshine State, as travelers from other parts of the U.S. fueled record tourism numbers in the first quarter of 2022.

Visit Florida President and CEO Dana Young told members of the agency’s Executive Committee that the agency is taking a broader view of drive markets.

“We used to target 700 miles to the Florida border as a drive market.” Young said in a conference call Wednesday. “Now, the drive market has become 900 miles. So, we’re targeting all of our key fly markets plus drive markets within a 900-mile radius.”

The change potentially expands drive-focused marketing to include Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City, with the prior distance capping efforts in Washington, D.C., Dallas and Louisville, Ky.

It might be paying off. Last Friday, Visit Florida estimated 35.982 million people traveled to the state between the start of January and the end of March, more than in similar quarters before the pandemic.

The vast majority of visitors were from other parts of the U.S., as has been the case since marketing efforts resumed following a shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this year’s first quarter, nearly 95 percent of visitors, 34.081 million, traveled from other states.

When Florida attracted a record-high 131.069 million travelers in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, the quarterly high for domestic travelers was 31.780 million.

Young said Florida’s numbers in the coming months could continue to be higher than before the pandemic.

“Based on the American Express Global Travel Trends Report that just came out, nearly 80 percent of American travelers say they are looking to travel with family this year,” Young said. “And of those, over 75 percent are planning to travel more with family in 2022 than they did in 2021. So, as a destination that is made for family travel, this is great news for us here in Florida.”

As efforts began to bring tourists back to Florida after the initial pandemic crunch, Visit Florida in summer 2020 targeted people who could make easily drivable trips to the state.

By the start of 2021, marketing efforts expanded to California, Oregon and Washington.