Local

New bill if passed could defund Florida’s tourism corporation ‘Visit Florida’

JACKSONVILLE, ,Fla. — The Florida House of Representatives has filed a bill that could defund “Visit Florida,” which could mean a loss of millions of dollars in advertising for local destination marketing organizations.

Defunding “Visit Florida” would take money away from local destination marketing organizations like “Visit Jax,” which markets Jacksonville to the rest of the country, and highlights the unique aspects of the city to potential tourists.

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Action News Jax’s Jimmy Marlow V spoke with the CEO of “Visit Jax,” Michael Corrigan, who said that the impact of this bill would have a trickle-down effect that some businesses may not be able to recover from.

Corrigan added that if “Visit Jax” loses the partnership with “Visit Florida” through this bill, a quarter of Visit Jax’s revenue would have to be allocated to Tallahassee, as well as all of the other local destination marketing organizations around the state which would total $75 million dollars, which “Visit Florida” would have to match.

Corrigan said that if Visit Florida can’t match that contribution dollar for dollar, then that money may not be reallocated to Jacksonville to help with marketing.

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The trickle-down effect is that local businesses would lose the exposure that they get from “Visit Jax,” which could mean the loss of jobs & businesses closing because they cannot rely only on residents alone for their revenue.

“If you’re not marketing Jacksonville and the Visitors aren’t coming in, the expenses will stay the same in your local government, but we are not generating the revenue that we’re generating today. The local citizens are going to have to pay more in taxes in order to offset that loss of revenue that we get from visitors coming into town. We don’t have a state income tax, and the reason we don’t have it is because of tourism,” Corrigan said.

Corrigan added that tourism is a $3.8 billion industry in Jacksonville, and that if House Bill 7053 is passed, that number could drop, and taxpayers would end up paying more. He also said that local businesses would be hit the hardest.

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“The biggest loser is going to the small businesses here in Jacksonville will be the small businesses, they wake up every morning and trying to preserve and present things to the people of Jacksonville,” Corrigan said.

Visit Florida has faced being defunded before, as far back as 2016 when Action News Jax reported on an expired contract worth $1 million, between “Visit Florida” and the rapper Pitbull. Now again in 2023, there is another chance that millions of dollars could be diverted from local destination marketing organizations in the form of House Bill 7053.

Marlow also spoke with a local business manager who said tourists come to Jacksonville for a more homey experience.

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“Finding that cozy, ‘Hi how are you doing,’ when you walk into a local small shop, I think that means a lot to people, so much so that they want to put a pin in and say I’ve been here,” Marcia Hall, Manager at “A Cup of Job,” said.

When asked about how large of a portion tourism is to the coffee shop’s revenue, Hall responded:

“When the hotels are full, we are busy. It doesn’t make any sense, I couldn’t tell you when we’re going to be busy and when we’re not, it’s just when the wave of tourism comes in, we feel it here at Cup of Job.”

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Hall said that tourists have told her that they come to Jacksonville for a relaxing vacation and that it feels like a “home away from home, and when what she would tell legislators regarding local tourism, she said:

“Don’t take that from us, because we have an opportunity to love well the people around us when they come to visit us, and that’s something that we wouldn’t have if that wasn’t around here. So, I would say don’t do it.”

The “FloridaSenate.Gov” website currently says that House Bill 7053 is now in the hands of the “Ways and Means Committee,” Action News Jax will have updates when they are available.

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