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VISIT FLORIDA Launches New Website for Meetings Professionals

NEWS RELEASE TOPIC:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 9, 2009

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VISIT FLORIDA Launches New Website for Meetings Professionals

VISIT FLORIDA, the official tourism marketing organization for Florida, will launch FloridaMeetingsMeanBusiness.com in mid-April 2009. The website is VISIT FLORIDA’s call to action to support the business of meetings, conventions and incentive travel which has been under attack due to recent political rhetoric out of DC regarding corporate travel.

This website and its sister site, www.meetings.VISITFLORIDA.com, are focused on encouraging and enabling meeting planners and travel suppliers to plan and hold meetings in the Sunshine State. The ongoing value of organizations meeting in Florida is highlighted on the site. Joyce Stillwell, Director of Sales said, “Our Partners and Florida destinations are committed to be extremely responsive and very easy to do business with, especially in these challenging times. The website demonstrates that Florida has always and will continue to offer these professionals great locations for great values in and to the Sunshine State.”
In conjunction with the U.S. Travel Association-led coalition, this new website supports the national call to action from the Convention Industry Council (CIC) and its members and will link to programs and resources for meetings professionals such as Florida Encounter (www.FloridaEncounter.com) and our innovative program Cover Your Event insurance (CYE.VISITFLORIDA.com).
In the upcoming weeks, the Florida tourism industry will be encouraged to upload their special meetings offers, Florida Meetings Deals and Steals, to the website and VISIT FLORIDA will market these offers to the planner community.
Steven Bonda, CMP, VISIT FLORIDA’s Sales Manager, Meeting and Conventions stated, “Like other industry organizations, VISIT FLORIDA is committed to keeping the industry connected to the latest information and resources to ensure that our Partners and industry survives and thrive.” Bonda further stated, “We will update this site regularly with timely knowledge and content. Interested professionals should bookmark the site for regular and future reference. We will monitor, along with our colleague organizations, developments globally and provide information and solutions for doing business in Florida on the website.”
Stillwell concluded, “Florida is here and waiting for you and continues to be an exceptional value for meetings, conventions and incentive travel! Meeting professionals will find a complete array of diverse and affordable Florida destination offerings to satisfy meeting attendees’ fancy. Using these tools planners will be able to deliver excellent return on investment that will produce great outcomes and impacts for their clients’ meetings and bottom-lines.”

As the state’s number one industry, tourism is responsible for welcoming more than 80 million visitors each year, which results in over $60 billion in taxable sales revenue and employs in excess of 1 million Floridians. For every $1 spent on tourism marketing, VISIT FLORIDA – the state’s official tourism marketing corporation – generates more than $55 in tourism spending and $3 in new sales tax collections, paid by visitors, not residents. VISIT FLORIDA promotes tourism to Florida through sales, advertising, promotions, public relations, new product development and visitor services programs. As a public/private partnership VISIT FLORIDA has more than 3,100 tourism industry Partners and major strategic alliances with American Express Travel Related Services, AirTran Airways, Disney Destinations, Dollar Rent A Car, The Hertz Corporation, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment and Universal Orlando. To learn more about VISIT FLORIDA, visit www.VISITFLORIDA.org.