Visit Florida’s website welcomes readers with the line, “Share what you love with the people you love.”
According to the government-funded tourism agency, LGBTQ tourists may no longer be among the people you love.
A week after the LGBTQ section was quietly removed from the VisitFlorida.com website, Visit Florida publicly commented for the first time on the reasons for the removal of the pages.
“It’s pretty simple,” said Dana Young, CEO and president of Visit Florida, at the tourism office’s board meeting on August 28. “Visit Florida is a tax-funded organization and as such Visit Florida, our marketing strategy, our materials And our content must be in line with the state.”
Florida is a popular destination for Eastern Canadians because it is close, warm and surrounded by water. Alienating a wealthy source market, not to mention the global optics of an exclusionary policy, doesn’t fit with “pretty easy” – at least not for this trade publication.
The message that LGBTQ content is not in line with the state is one that has the stench of something we would rather avoid.
Visit Florida has been actively marketing to the LGBTQ community for at least a decade.
Visit Florida’s tourism site previously featured information on attractions, beaches, destinations and businesses that LGBTQ travelers.
Skift reported for the removal of the page last week. Visit Florida declined to comment at the time.
Rachel Covello, travel blog editor OutCoastsaid Young’s response was a “very superficial, almost political-sounding” comment. Covello said the question of why the content was intentionally removed remained unanswered.
“Return the Rainbow,” a Change.org petition led by Covello, calls for the restoration of the removed LGBTQ travel pages, the creation of an LGBTQ advisory board, and mandatory LGBTQ awareness training for Visit Florida employees.
In 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law banning discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
Young, a former state representative, was appointed by DeSantis to lead the organization in 2019. Visit Florida is reportedly a public-private partnership, and the state representative has allocated $80 million to Visit Florida for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
DeSantis claimed he only learned about the page’s removal after the fact, Skift reports.
“I didn’t realize it until after the fact. Our view as a state is that we are the best place to visit, we welcome everyone, but we’re not going to separate people based on those different characteristics. That’s never how we’ve done business in all of our operations,” he said. “I’m not sure how this all started. Now I’m aware of it and I think nothing really changes and the fact is that Florida is going to continue to be a great place.”
In an interview last week, Will Seccombe, former CEO and president of Visit Florida, said: “We have been supporting LGBTQ travel for a long time, from sponsoring events at ITB to content and marketing. It was has been installed there for a long time.”
Stacy Ritter, CEO and President of Visit Lauderdale, responded to LinkedIn. “While Visit Florida is removing its LGBTQ+ page from its website, Visit Lauderdale values, respects and recognizes people from marginalized communities and is committed to providing them with a welcoming and inclusive experience,” she wrote.
