By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Visit Florida President and CEO Dana Young, who oversaw tourism-marketing efforts as House leaders pushed for the agency’s closure and helped guide a tourism rebound after COVID-19 slammed the industry, announced Tuesday she will step down from the post.
Young, a former lawmaker who has spent nearly six years at Visit Florida, will exit when a new leader is in place.
“I am very proud of the work we have done (and will continue to do) at Visit Florida, maximizing return on investment for Florida taxpayers,” Young said in a prepared statement. “This has truly been the best job I have ever had, and I will miss my amazing team!”
A Visit Florida news release did not indicate her future plans.
Young, an attorney, represented parts of Hillsborough County in the House from 2010 to 2016 and in the Senate from 2016 to 2018. After a narrow defeat in a re-election bid, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to run Visit Florida days before his first-term inauguration.
Visit Florida Board of Directors Chair John Lai, president of the Sanibel and Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement Tuesday that praised Young for “guiding us through challenging times with unwavering determination and leading the way to record-breaking visitation.”
When Young was appointed to the job in January 2019, Visit Florida was coming off a record year for tourism. But it faced budget cuts from the Legislature that resulted in slashing staff.
House leaders took a hardline stance against the agency, expressing skepticism about the effectiveness of tourism-marketing efforts and pointing to questionable past contracts — including $2.875 million to sponsor an auto-racing team known as “Visit Florida Racing” and $1 million for Miami rapper Pitbull to promote the state.
But DeSantis maintained support for the agency, which weathered the House attacks. Visit Florida received $80 million in state money this year, up from $50 million in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Young also led Visit Florida through the COVID-19 pandemic, which largely shut down the tourism industry in 2020 before the economy reopened.
Tuesday’s announcement came shortly after DeSantis’ office highlighted a Rockport Analytics report on the impact of tourism for 2023, after a “two-year COVID-19 recovery.”
The report said that while Florida “set a record with 156.9 million out-of-state visitors, growth has moderated to 1.4 percent signaling a plateau after the post pandemic surge.”
Information on the Visit Florida website puts the 2023 visitor count at 140.6 million. It said 109.7 million people visited the state in the first nine months of 2024.
Travelers from other parts of the U.S. continue to out-paced international tourists, who have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
After the initial impact of the pandemic, Young concentrated on attracting U.S. tourists as Florida pushed to reopen attractions and businesses earlier than other states.
The move gave Florida an advantage over other states in restoring its hospitality industry. The Rockport Analytics report estimated tourism supports 2.1 million full- and part-time jobs in Florida and generates a $127.7 billion annual economic impact.
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