Visit Florida Looks to Recapture Overseas Tourists
The United Kingdom accounted for an estimated 1.143 million visitors to Florida in 2023, below the estimated 1.334 million visitors in 2019.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Visit Florida is again hoping a British television personality will help its efforts to return to pre-pandemic levels of tourism from overseas.
Last year, the state tourism-marketing agency worked with Ipswich farmer and television personality Jimmy Doherty on a five-part culinary tour of Florida. This year, ITV presenter Alison Hammond and her son are showing more off-beat locations in Florida in a 10-part series on BBC 2.
“They are exploring Florida on a budget, which is something that's really important for the U.K. right now,” Meagan Lowe, Visit Florida’s director of public relations, told members of the Visit Florida Marketing Committee last week.
The United Kingdom accounted for an estimated 1.143 million visitors to Florida in 2023. That was up from 1.106 million visitors from the United Kingdom in 2022. But the count remained below the estimated 1.334 million visitors in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, Florida estimated 6.38 million visitors came from overseas in the first three quarters of 2024. In the first three quarters of 2019, Florida handled an estimated 7.22 million overseas visitors.
In the BBC 2 series, Hammond travels with her son Aidan to areas that include the Everglades and the state’s natural springs. Visit Florida provided $196,000 for last year’s Doherty series, while it provided $31,233 for the Hammond production, according to Lowe.
“We only assisted with some accommodations in Florida and on the ground staff support,” Lowe said in an email.
Doherty traveled with his family to Pensacola, Panama City Beach, the Kennedy Space Center, New Smyrna Beach, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tampa, Polk County, Orlando, Miami and Anna Maria Island.
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