SAN ANTONIO – Fort Myers is recovering nicely from Hurricane Ian. California is bursting with visitors. Washington D.C. wants more international travellers. And Philadelphia says like us or get out of town. Nearly a dozen U.S. destinations took to the stage at this year’s U.S. Travel Association/IPW convention in San Antonio to trumpet everything from world class cuisine to mosquito-chomping bats. There was also an actual trumpet player and a wonderfully talented poet laureate from Orlando. Here are some of the highlights from IPW press conferences this week, including some Canadian visitation information. FORT MYERS AND BEACHES Miriam Dotson, communications Read more
Hurricane Ian
With Hurricane Ian receding on the news cycle, Florida’s tourism-marketing agency is launching a $2.7 million USD campaign to show that large areas of the state were not badly damaged by the storm. Fox News says the Visit Florida campaign will run on digital and social media platforms through the end of October and show recent footage taken from 14 parts of the state with the message, “Sun’s Shining in Florida.” Florida is, of course, a very large state. Hurricane Ian devasted areas around Fort Myers/Sanibel/Captiva, but many other areas of the Sunshine State, including Saint Augustine and Florida’s Historic Read more
Southwest Florida was devastated by Hurricane Ian, but local hotels and other tourism businesses are lending a helping hand. Throughout the state’s response to Hurricane Ian, VISIT FLORIDA has worked closely with authorities and travel brands, such as Expedia, AirBnb and hoteliers throughout the state, to connect displaced Floridians with resources for finding suitable short- and long-term accommodations. Earlier this week, VISIT FLORIDA learned of 23 families, who evacuated from their homes in Lee County while their newborns were in NICU care, were urgently in need of temporary housing in Broward County as their infants were being transferred to nearby Read more
Southwest Florida was slammed recently by Hurricane Ian. Here’s a statement put out today by local authorities. “The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau (Fort Myers – Islands, Beaches & Neighborhoods) is working closely with state, federal and local officials to assess the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on September 28 as a Category 4 near Cayo Costa, an island just off the coast of Fort Myers. Search and rescue efforts continue throughout the region. Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers has reopened for limited operations. Visitors are asked to put travel plans to the Read more
The Fort Myers airport is slated to open for limited traffic today, but that doesn’t mean tourism will be back any time soon in Southwest Florida. A spokesperson for Fort Myers tourism told me on Tuesday that limited flights will begin today and that Air Canada is tentatively scheduled to fly in and out of Fort Myers on Friday. A few hotels could open soon, but rooms are being set aside for utility workers and other responders. Hurricane Ian did tremendous damage to Florida and other parts of the U.S., as well as to some Caribbean islands. The death toll Read more
