A multi-million dollar crisis recovery plan is being hatched by Florida tourism chiefs in the wake of devastation in parts of the state caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
A social media campaign using a ‘Sunshine is Shining in Florida’ message was initiated on Monday for areas that escaped the twin storms or incurred minimal impact.
The two-week push that includes images and video captured immediately after Helene will focus on making visitors aware that many parts of Florida remain open and ready to welcome travellers.
Visit Florida chief executive Dana Young said: “We are also working with content creators to help showcase unaffected areas, and will resume paid search and promotional media programmes.
“Several previously planned press trips to Florida are moving forward this week while our regional campaign with Expedia is live, and the ‘Gift of Florida’ campaign will continue as scheduled in November and December.”
She added: “In the coming weeks, we will roll out a larger crisis recovery initiative, with several million dollars in planned investment, to further support impacted destinations.”
The initiatives were unveiled in an industry update on efforts to help Florida rebound quickly.
Organic social media campaigns featuring ‘Stronger than the Storm’ messaging went live last Friday for people in the state and ‘Florida is Resilient’ for US domestic markets, “signalling our commitment to recovery,” Young said.
“To better tailor our marketing efforts, we have sent a survey to all DMOs to assess the impact on their destinations and determine when they estimate they will be ready to welcome visitors back.
“For areas that were not impacted or minimally impacted, we are launching a paid social media campaign with ‘Sun is Shining in Florida messaging.”
Tampa International airport re-opened for business at “near-full” operational strength on Monday only days after closing to the public ahead of Hurricane Milton.
The airport had a full schedule of about 500 flights, with regular commercial flight operations expected all week.
All flights were suspended on the morning of October 8 ahead of Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane the following evening near Siesta Key, about 50 miles south of the airport.
Operations and customer service executive vice president John Tiliacos said: “Thanks to careful planning, preparation, and execution ahead of this historic hurricane, Tampa International airport was able to rapidly rebound to serve the needs of this region and state, as well as our travellers.”
The airport plans and practices in anticipation of these storms all year, “and that effort has served us well in recovering first from Helene and now Milton,” he added.
Orlando International airport resumed full commercial passenger operations last Friday following extensive clean-up from the debris left by Hurricane Milton.
Melbourne Orlando airport also resumed services on October 11, following the impacts of Hurricane Milton.
“Despite sustaining some damage to the terminal, airport staff and contractors responded swiftly to facilitate a timely reopening. The airfield was unaffected by the storm,” a statement said.
The Florida Keys & Key West tourism infrastructure was reported to be intact throughout the 125-mile-long island chain after Hurricane Milton brought tropical storm wind gusts but “no significant” impact.
The Florida Keys Overseas Highway, including all 42 bridges, is fully open.
Key West and Florida Keys Marathon international airports were unaffected and remained open and operational.
The Port of Key West reopened to commercial maritime traffic last Thursday morning.