One in three jobs go after Visit Florida funding cut
Tourism marketing agency Visit Florida has cut a third of its US workforce as a result of its reduced budget.
It announced last week it will lay off 44 people due to a $26 million shortfall in funding for the coming year, down from $76 million previously.
Visit Florida president and CEO Dana Young said: "The decision to downsize staff proportionate to the budget reduction was extremely difficult, but with less funding, there is simply no way Visit Florida could maintain the level of staffing we once had."
In conjunction with the staff cuts, Visit Florida’s marketing strategy has been streamlined too.
It is ditching most of its expensive TV ads and will instead concentrate more heavily on social and digital channels.
Other initiatives, such as planned sales mission trips to China and Mexico will be scrapped.
"While this reduced budget will require significant changes in our marketing approach, we are confident that we can continue to deliver a great value for Floridians with the funding provided," Young added.
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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.
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