June 07, 2017

Gov. Scott Vetoes Diminished Budget for Visit Florida

Florida Gov. Rick Scott vetoed the part of Florida's budget that decreased Visit FloridaÕs funding by 67%, and has proposed increasing the tourism-marketing group's budget to $76 million.
Scott will meet this week with Florida legislators during a special session he called to discuss that and other changes to the budget, from which he vetoed $410 million.

"There needs to be legislation that allows us to market our state for tourism and grow jobs while maintaining these important principles. I look forward to working with the legislature during the upcoming special session to achieve these important goals for Florida families," Scott said in a statement in which he asked for $76 million for Visit Florida, down from the $100 million heÕd asked for before the budget passed FloridaÕs Senate last month.

In early May, the Florida legislature passed an $82 billion budget allotting $25 million to Visit Florida, despite Scotts's aggressive campaign in support of the state's marketing arm. The organization came under fire last year following the revelation last year that it had paid rapper Pitbull $1 million to promote the state, leading to the resignation of Visit Florida's CEO in January.

"This special session will secure FloridaÕs place as the premier tourist destination in America while ensuring that Visit Florida is completely open, accountable and transparent to the taxpayer," Scott said.

The special session is scheduled to start Wednesday and end Friday.


Copyright 2017 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. All rights reserved. From http://www.travelweekly.com. By Johanna Jainchill.

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