Already one of the most popular destinations in the United States, Florida is ramping up its efforts to recruit more tourists to the state. In 2013 the state saw almost 94 million tourists enter the state to see the variety of wonderful places Florida has to offer. Although this ranks among the best in the United States, the 2014 goal has been set at an even 100 million. Visit Florida is the state’s tourism marketing corporation, and last week announced their plan to try and meet the goal.
The new strategy involves a multi-step approach. First, the state has partnered with National Geographic to create a Florida hub on their website to attract potential tourists to the area. A new series of apps published in a variety of languages including Mandarin, German and French. The new apps are targeted at specific audiences to try and draw the attention of a variety of different nationalities. The company has also signed on to have the Florida landscape become a part of the video game “Ricky Carmichael’s Motocross Matchup” to try and appeal to the millennial generation.
With the increased number of tourists in the coming years, businesses of all types need to prepare. According to Paul Phipps, Visit Florida Chief Marketing Officer, “We know we’re going to get more visitors…We’d better prepare ourselves.” The larger number of visitors is also a good sign for real estate, especially in heavily visited cities like Miami. Moving forward look for the higher volume of tourists to help continue to propel the Miami, and south Florida, economy forward in the coming years.