I AM writing to take issue with recent comments made by operators about Florida (Travel Weekly February 24).
We at Visit Florida have never been complacent about the UK, which is our largest overseas market, sending us and estimated 1.4m visitors in 1998. In fact, the last year has seen an increase in both trade and consumer marketing activity by both Visit Florida and the ten local visitor bureaux with UKoffices.
Perhaps some operators need to look to other causes for the slowdown in their bookings? Have they been guilty in the past of dumping their overcapacity at ridiculously low prices?Has the product they offered changed at all in the past five years?Florida is now a mature market and yet the choice of destination within the state offered by the majority of operators has grown very little. UKvisitors returning for the second or third time are looking for options that may not include Orlando at all.
Colin Brodie
Director of Marketing, Europe
Visit Florida
London