17 DEC 2018: How time flies. It will be just two years next month that Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed Ken Lawson as president and CEO of Visit Florida. Now, Governor-elect Ron DeSantis has announced that Lawson has been appointed the next executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) effective January 9, 2019. So, the search for a new CEO is on!
Scott’s choice of Lawson to head Florida’s tourism agency in 2017 was a surprise. It followed the governor’s requested resignation of Will Seccombe over a confidential contract with entertainer Armando Christian Perez, known more familiarly as Pitbull, along with other contracts including a car racing team and a British soccer team. Those contracts, particularly the one with Pitbull, brought scrutiny and criticism from the State government, media and public, especially when Visit Florida provided an almost completely redacted copy of the Pitbull contract – infuriating everyone and instigating the removal of Seccombe and other Visit Florida executives.
In filling the president and CEO position after Seccombe’s departure, Governor Scott said he knew Lawson would, “use his unmatched experience and love for Florida to promote tourism while bringing much needed reforms to Visit Florida so our state can break even more tourism records.”
At the time, Travel Industry Today questioned the choice, noting that while Scott, “offered a ringing endorsement,” and “despite a slew of credentials in senior positions in law enforcement, the military and legal and financial sectors, and his love of Florida notwithstanding, nowhere could we find any credible – nor in fact any – experience in travel and tourism or marketing – and one would think those are key aspects of this position.”
In an interview with Lawson in Toronto, some months after his appointment, Lawson defended his credentials, and said it was his job “not just to market Florida, but also serve as a leader for our industry.”
He said he was available to anyone with questions on Visit Florida, and suggested we publish his email so Canadians could reach out to him directly should they wish to – which we did.
Lawson said he wanted to reassure Canadians, (and everyone else), that Florida was open for business.
“The thing to make sure in Canada,” he told us, “Is that Canadians know they are important, they are number one, and Florida welcomes them.”
He said, “I’ll compare (Florida) to Dubai, Paris any place in the world – ‘cause we have the best product in Florida. I know. I’m from Florida. Born and raised.
“There’s more to Florida than beaches. Just look at the Tampa area – Tampa, St Pete, Clearwater, Sarasota – so you’ve got art, music, culture, great restaurants, tons of art galleries – the Dali, the Ringling Museum – the bottom line is we need to share that message – that diversity.”
No argument there – Lawson was certainly a fine cheerleader for Florida.
The numbers are good
And to his credit, Florida tourism is on pace to set an annual record, with an estimated 65.5 million people travelling to the state during the first half of 2018 up 5.9 percent from the same period in 2017.
The outgoing governor (and now senator-elect) said the pace should allow the state to easily surpass a record 118.5 million tourists estimated for 2017.
“If we have that sort of growth the rest of the year, we’re going to have 125 million tourists,” Scott said. “Every 65 to 75 tourists is another Florida job.”
For the second quarter of 2018, domestic visits were up 7.1 percent over 2017 accounting for 28.3 million tourists. Visitation from Canada grew by 1.3 percent.
Florida boosted its Canadian marketing from $1 million to $1.8 million last year, after Lawson acknowledged the state had taken the nation’s northern neighbor for granted.
Meanwhile, the second-quarter estimates show Florida attracted 2.6 million overseas visitors, about the same as a year earlier.
Who’s next?
Visit Florida’s Board of Directors is to work with Governor-elect DeSantis and his team to select the new president and CEO.
So, here’s the intriguing question? Who will be the next president and CEO of Visit Florida?
There are certainly capable, experienced, qualified, creative candidates who would/should be on the short list.
The success of the appointment will surely depend on whether the Visit Florida Board or the politicians get the last word.