Florida has been wise to invest heavily in airports and deepwater ports. Our special Economic Backbone feature (on page 18 of the May issue) shows just how important these assets have become.
The largest of the state’s airports — Miami International — boasts 44 million passengers for 2015. MIA is one of four airports with passenger counts exceeding 10 million. The others are Orlando, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Tampa. Florida’s largest 20 airports had 161 million passengers last year, a gain of 12 million from the prior year.
Many of those passengers were international. Miami alone handled more than 21 million international passengers, while both Orlando and Fort Lauderdale had in excess of 5 million.
From Florida’s four major airports you can fly to dozens of international destinations. South America, Central America and the Caribbean are old hat. Western Europe is a mainstay. Russia the Mideast are recent additions, and flights to Asia and Africa won’t be far off.
Our seaports are equally vital economic drivers; they move 100 million tons of cargo each year and handle 15 million cruise passengers. The impact adds up when you consider the many vendors that service these ships, the number of truckers who move all the cargo and the number of companies that use these ports to move their goods.
We’re witnessing major projects at every big airport in Florida, with expenditures of $1 billion or more. At the ports, you’ll see dredging, tunnels, train tracks, gantry cranes and more.
Telemedicine is the junction of remote communications with health care. Thanks to fast technological advances, a doctor in one city can advise a patient elsewhere. Phone apps allow medical data to be transmitted.
The implications for Florida — and elsewhere — are great. Hospitals that plan to capitalize on the trend must race to create expertise that makes all this feasible. The winners get new patients who need top-flight care.
In Florida Trend’s health care coverage this month (on page 62 of the May issue), you will read about telemedicine developments at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Orlando Health and Nemours Hospital, also in Orlando. That’s just the tip of the iceberg as virtually every medical professional is getting into the field.
On a related note, please see the article on real estate developments focused on healthy living (on page 50 of the May issue). Wellness-oriented real estate is the rage these days, so walking trails, fitness studios and even purified air are becoming common amenities.
In July, we publish the Legal Issue, which expands Florida Trend’s monthly legal coverage. We will have an in-depth look at intellectual property, along with rundowns on Florida’s law schools and major legal cases. We’ll also have a list of the state’s largest law firms and their managing partners.
Alongside this report, we will run the annual Legal Elite section naming the state’s top attorneys as selected by their peers. The list of 1,150 attorneys is just over 1% of Florida Bar members and is divided into categories — Hall of Fame, Legal Elite, Up and Comers, and Government attorneys.
If you are interested in marketing opportunities in the July edition, please contact Lynn Lotkowictz at 727/892-2612 or llotkowictz@FloridaTrend.com.
— Andy Corty
Publisher
[acorty@floridatrend.com]
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