Visit Florida is reporting an uptick in the number of bookings for multigenerational families to the US state as it continues to market holiday spots outside city hubs.
Speaking at virtual Florida Huddle, the state’s annual travel trade show, president and chief executive Dana Young said: “We’re seeing more multigenerational trips being booked.
“I can only suspect it’s because people have been kept apart from their older relatives for so long that now that the vaccination programmes are going forward in a positive way, we’re seeing families booking multigenerational trips, which I think is a really amazing way to spend time in Florida.”
Visit Florida will continue to market holiday destinations outside of the cities, as the state waits to welcome UK travellers.
“Even before the pandemic, we were focused at Visit Florida on educating people on the attractions and the amenities outside the main areas,” Young said.
The UK is the number two international market for Florida, behind Canada, and Young said demand from British travellers to visit is high.
Prior to the curb on international travel last March, UK visitor numbers to Florida for January and February were higher than for the same months in 2019.
“We are seeing significant bookings going forward,” Young said. “We’re finding people are trading-up and moving their vacations forward to late 2021, 2022, and then we’re seeing a lot of advance bookings out into the future.”
Virtual Florida Huddle, taking place throughout this week, is open to travel agents this year for the first time.
“It’s a recognition of how important travel agents are to our industry and to our state,” Young said. “It’s wonderful to have so many agents with us and I look forward to their participation in Huddle this time.
“And I think going forward, assuming that it’s successful and I believe it will be, we can continue to have some virtual element perhaps, so that if travel agents couldn’t afford to be here in person, we could include them again in the virtual format in a hybrid Huddle event.”
Last month, an agent incentive was announced by Gold Medal, in partnership with Visit Florida, Virgin Atlantic and Universal Orlando Resort, for 18 travel agents to win a place on a fam trip when travel to the US is permitted.
Florida Huddle will take place in Tampa Bay in January 2022.