Hurricane Matthew was a very dangerous storm and, while we are fortunate that the vast majority of Florida did not see significant impacts, we do have several communities that sustained serious damage.
Last week, the VISIT FLORIDA team was focused on the safety of our visitors and fellow Floridians. This week, we are shifting our focus to recovery and to letting the world know that the Florida tourism industry is open for business.
This morning, we hosted a call with the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors, as well as the leadership of our state’s Destination Marketing Organizations, to get a county-by-county damage assessment and to review plans to proactively promote our state to visitors.
Today, VISIT FLORIDA launched a four-pronged hurricane response marketing plan to invite visitors back to the Sunshine State. This plan includes a strong “Open for Business” digital campaign, a series of 32 new authentic and time-stamped videos along with a supporting social media campaign, an aggressive push to energize our Share a Little Sunshine advocates to share timely images of the state with #LoveFL, and customized plans to support the communities that were directly impacted by Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Hermine.
Additionally, VISIT FLORIDA has packaged a series of programs being offered complimentary to help core tourism businesses that were significantly impacted by the storms. For more information, please go to VISITFLORIDA.org/recovery or contact our Industry Relations team at [email protected] or 877-435-2872.
The Florida tourism industry has recovered from many storms over the years, and I have no doubt that our communities and our state will quickly rebound from Hurricanes Hermine and Matthew as well. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or to let us know if there is anything we can do to help your impacted businesses and destinations recover from the storms.