Visit Florida on LGTBQ Travel Page Removal: ‘Our Marketing … Must Align With the State’

Visit Florida made its first public comment Wednesday about the removal of its “LGTBQ Travel” page, after more than a week of no explanation of why it was taken down.

“It’s fairly simple. Visit Florida is a taxpayer funded organization and, as such, Visit Florida our marketing strategy, our materials and our content must align with the state. Florida has always been and continues to be a very welcoming state,” said Dana Young, CEO and president of Visit Florida, in response to a question at the tourism bureau’s board meeting.

The page had provided information on beaches, destinations, businesses, and museums friendly to LGBTQ travelers. Skift reported on the page’s removal last week following a report by NBC News. Visit Florida did not respond to multiple requests for comment at the time.

https://skift.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/img_5921.mp4

Young’s explanation did not satisfy Rachel Covello, an attendee at the meeting who runs the travel blog OutCoast and who first noted the page’s removal.

“Her answer was a very surface, almost politically sounding answer that didn’t answer the question about where the website went,” she said.

Florida’s Governor Responds

In 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law legislation (dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics) that banned discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of formal instruction in public schools.

At a press conference on Wednesday, DeSantis said he only knew about the page removal after it was taken down.

“I was aware after the fact. Our view as a state is we are the best place to visit, we’re welcome to all, but we’re not going to be segregating people by these different characteristics. That’s not how we’ve done business in any of things we’ve done,” he said. “I’m not sure how any of that stuff started or this. I’m aware of it now and I think nothing really changes and the fact is that Florida is going to remain a great place to be.”

For at least over a decade, Visit Florida has been actively marketing to LGTBQ travelers. “We supported LGTBQ travel for a long time, from sponsoring events at ITB to content to marketing. It’s been built in there for a long time,” said Will Seccombe, former CEO and president of Visit Florida from 2012 to 2017, in an interview last week.

Visit Florida is a public-private partnership. The state legislature allocated $80 million to Visit Florida for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Young, a former state legislature politician, was picked by DeSantis to head the organization in 2019.

While Visit Florida removed its page, other destination marketing organizations in Florida have kept their “Things To Do” pages geared toward LGTBQ travelers. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Visit Lauderdale, Visit Tampa Bay and Visit Orlando each still have their pages up.

“While Visit Florida removes its LGBTQ+ page from its website, Visit Lauderdale values, respects and sees those from marginalized communities and commits to providing them a welcoming and inclusive experience,” wrote Stacy Ritter, CEO and president of Visit Lauderdale, on LinkedIn last week.