Gov. Rick Scott takes to TV to fight for Visit Florida funding
Monday, 17 Mar, 2017
0
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is stepping up his dispute with Republican lawmakers in a last ditch bid to safeguard Visit Florida’s budget for tourism marketing.
Scott has filmed a 30-second TV ad which will air across the state next week.
In it he calls out ‘Tallahassee politicians who don’t get it’ referring to opponents who are seeking to cut the state tourism marketing agency’s budget by 70% following a House vote recently.
"More than a million Florida families rely on jobs in our tourism industry and are threatened with this massive cut," Gov. Scott said at the time.
"They don’t understand how jobs are created," Scott says in the ad, citing a 2% drop in tourism would mean the loss of about 28,000 jobs.
The clampdown on Visit Florida was sparked by criticism over a $1 million payment to rapper Pitbull to promote Florida which the agency refused to make public.
It eventually led to the resignation of then CEO Will Seccombe.
A Save Florida Tourism online campaign has been set up to fight the changes, asking supporters to share key facts about the benefits tourism brings to the state.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
France prepares for a massive strike across all transports on September 18
Turkish tourism stalls due to soaring prices for accommodation and food
CCS Insight: eSIMs ready to take the travel world by storm
Germany new European Entry/Exit System limited to a single airport on October 12, 2025
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt