TAMPA, Fla. — The head of the state-funded tourism agency spoke for the first time about a controversial decision to remove a webpage on LGBTQ travel from the Visit Florida website. Visit Florida President and CEO Dana Young was in Tampa for a tourism conference.
“Visit Florida is a taxpayer-funded organization,” Young said to the Visit Florida Board of Directors. “And as such, Visit Florida, our marketing strategy and our materials, our content must align with the state. Florida has always been and will continue to be a very, very welcoming state."
"That is evidenced by the incredible tourism numbers that we presented last week and at this board meeting and Visit Florida is committed to continue that message of being welcome to everyone forward as we move through the next year and through the next many years in our partnership with the state of Florida," she continued.
But she didn't want to dive deeper into why the state removed a webpage dedicated to LGBTQ travel.
“I explained that,” she told 10 Tampa Bay. “My statement was super clear, so you can use that… you can use that as my quote.”
Maryann Ferenc, a former Visit Florida board chair, spoke in opposition to the move during the meeting’s regular public comment period.
“We're talking about the number one industry [in Florida.] "What's the reason?” she said after the meeting. “Why would we do this? If this is an economic decision, I can't see how it's a good one.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis chimed in from a law enforcement press conference in Polk County as the meeting was happening.
“We're open to all,” he said. “But we're not going to be segregating people by these different characteristics. That's not how we've done business and any of the things that we've done.”
That despite dedicated travel pages still up for African American and Hispanic travelers.
For the Bay area travel blogger who first noticed the page was deleted, Rachel Covello says the state is missing out on even more tourism money.
“We are just hardworking people, and we like to spend money and we like to travel,” she said. “The LGBTQ demographic brings in, my guess would be about a billion or more, you know, it's a billion dollar industry, tourism industry.”
Covello started a Change.org petition to add the LGBT travel page back to the Visit Florida website. She also wants a Visit Florida LGBTQ travel advisory board.