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Selling Florida Short
First came a spot for the Bahamas showing a beautiful girl on a white beach. Then came one for the Barbados showing a beautiful girl on a white beach. And finally came one for Florida, and guess what? It, too, showed a beautiful girl on a beach.
The ads were totally lacking in originality, and without hearing the sound track, no one could tell one from the other. To be sure, beaches and clear water are pretty much all that the islands have to offer. But doesn't Florida have something more to pitch than the same old product every other warm weather resort has to sell?
That's the subject of this month's important cover story. Florida's tourism industry is in trouble. Florida still pulls in around 40 million tourists a year, but they're spending less and leaving sooner. The dramatic growth of the '70s and '80s is long gone, and the Florida industry is now losing market share to more alluring destinations.
What's gone wrong? The Florida Legislature, in its usual wisdom, has penny-pinched tourism promotion for years, despite the industry being the main economic support under the state's economy. But the problem hasn't been just an insufficient investment in advertising. What money the state has spent hasn't been spent very well.
That is why initially I was attracted to the idea, now before the Legislature, of spinning off tourist promotion from the Commerce Department into a new public-private partnership, which would be overseen by the Florida Commission on Tourism. And I still support the idea in theory. But I'm troubled by early indications of the strategy the Commission on Tourism would use to sell the state.
As the cover story points out, the fastest growing segment of tourism worldwide is among travelers who desire cultural and environmental stimulation, not just a beach or a theme park. Yet in its proposed marketing plan, the Florida Tourism Commission totally ignores this growth market. The plan literally contains not one word about marketing Florida's cultural and historical assets, even though these are now arguably the most important draws Florida has to offer. Just look at the stunning success achieved by the Art Deco district on South Beach, which apparently is now visited by more tourists than any Florida theme park except Disney World.
Under the Tourism Commission's marketing plan, the image of Florida that would be beamed to the world's tourists would be much like the generic advertising that is going out now ? only there would be more of it. The unspoken implication of these messages is: If you don't want to fry on a beach, whack a golf or tennis ball or ride through some ersatz theme park adventure, then there isn't much for you under Florida's sun. That's just not fair to the Florida tourism industry as a whole and sells short the stunning diversity of travel experiences the state has to offer.
The explanation for this strategy appears to fall with who's calling the shots. The commission is dominated by theme park and hotel chain executives, who represent a huge, but comparatively stagnant, segment of the industry, and one that is not particularly focused on Florida.
Granted, the big attractions bring lots of people to the state, but what's good for Disney or Universal Studios Florida isn't necessarily what's good for Florida, or even for the Florida tourism industry as a whole. By putting a Disney theme park in France, for example, the company took away European visitors from Florida. Whether it's Disney, Sea World, Universal or Busch Gardens, the interests of these corporate entities are to keep tourists on their property, whether that property is in Central Florida, Tokyo or L.A.
If Florida turns over marketing the state to the biggest players, it runs the risk that these corporations will further define Florida as just more beach resorts and theme parks, which is exactly the wrong message to be sending at a time when more and more tourists are looking for unique destinations. Beaches and theme parks? Been there. Done that.
Contrast the approach to be advocated by the Tourism Commission with that taken recently by Connecticut, which proudly trumpets its historic sites and bosky countryside as well as its amusement parks and beaches. In the South, North Carolina currently is preparing a campaign that stresses the state's environmental charms. The Tourism Commission, in addition to representing the Florida industry as a whole, must take strong stands on issues like urban sprawl and environmental degradation, which threaten to erode further the quality of the tourist product Florida is selling.
Even though "the real Florida" remains a well-kept secret up North and abroad, many enterprising travelers do nonetheless uncover our charms. When James Yenckel, the thoughtful and independent travel writer for the Washington Post, visited Tampa Bay last year, he went away with an entirely new image of Florida. "As a first-timer, I was repeatedly delighted by what I found," wrote Yenckel. "In three very full days, I sampled a wealth of cultural, scientific and historical attractions. Unlike many of the frothy enticements of Orlando, about an hour to the north, they stimulate the mind and nourish the spirit rather than simply entertain."
"Return to your senses," intones the voice-over in the beach bunny commercials. But the sense that Florida really should be communicating to the world is a sense of place.
