Florida tourism chief hails post-hurricane recovery efforts

Florida’s top tourism official insists the state will be fully reopen for business by the time the UK market returns in force next year, with many areas impacted by recent hurricanes already welcoming visitors.

Visit Florida chief executive Dana Young described the speed of the clean-up operation in communities impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton as “incredible” as she reiterated the “vast majority” of the state was unaffected.

Speaking at World Travel Market, she said: “Even in the areas that were impacted, much of the tourism infrastructure is back online. By the time Brits are able to make their plans, book a trip and get [to Florida] they are not going to know anything happened.”

Young said the UK market was tracking roughly in line with last year, with 859,000 visitors in the first nine months of the year equating to around 92% of pre-pandemic volumes.

A total of 1.14 million UK visitors travelled to Florida in 2023, a marginal increase on 2022 but still 14% behind 2019.

Airlift has remained relatively stable, with some carriers increasing capacity on existing routes but others reducing seat numbers. There are hopes that the opening of Universal Orlando Resort’s Epic Universe park in May next year may drive further recovery from those who have held off booking pending its completion.

Young said positive relations with the travel trade remain core to Visit Florida’s strategy in the UK, with eight co-op campaigns with a range of operators and airlines due to run in the fiscal year from July to June.

“The trade is critical to our long -term strategic plan and we continue to develop many partnerships within the trade as we understand it is a critical part of the puzzle,” she added.

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