Florida’s tourism marketing agency would get more state money as part of a proposed $114.4 billion budget that Gov. Ron DeSantis rolled out Tuesday for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The proposed spending plan includes $105 million for Visit Florida, which would be required to match the total with other revenue, Tisha Womack, chief financial officer for the state Department of Commerce, told the Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
Visit Florida, which is a public-private agency, received $80 million from the state for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which started July 1.
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It received $50 million in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Last month, Visit Florida estimated 35.066 million people traveled to Florida during the third quarter of 2023, 1.4 percent more than during the same period of 2022 and 7.9 percent above the total in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Lawmakers will consider DeSantis’ proposal as they negotiate a spending plan during the 2024 legislative session, which will start Jan. 9.
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