The Florida legislature has fully restored funding to Visit
Florida, ending a tumultuous five months for the state's tourism-marketing
organization.
In early May, Florida lawmakers passed a state budget that
cut Visit Florida's budget by 67% budget, to $25 million.
Gov. Rick Scott, an ardent supporter of Visit Florida,
vetoed the cut, and called a special session last week to negotiate the budget,
which resulted in restoring the group's $76 million budget, among other
changes.
"We've fully funded Visit Florida so we can continue to
break visitation records," Scott said in a statement. He called the result
of the session "a major win for Florida families."
As expected, Visit Florida's restored funding comes with
added transparency and accountability reforms. Visit Florida's problems began
last year when it was revealed that it had paid rapper Pitbull $1 million to
promote the state, leading to the resignation of the group's CEO in January.
Florida House speaker Richard Corcoran, a Republican, called for the
elimination of the group.
Scott campaigned relentlessly in support of the state's tourism-marketing
arm, citing record-breaking visitation numbers for the past five years.
In 2015, Florida became the first U.S. state to welcome more
than 100 million visitors in a single year.