LOCAL

Florida tourism will take hit from Hurricane Irma

Dave Berman
Florida Today
Space Coast Office of Tourism Executive Director Eric Garvey says that, "once we're in the path of a storm, it causes a big disruption" in the tourism industry.

With Hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida, not many people are contemplating a vacation to the Sunshine State these days.

That could mean a temporary financial hit — or worse — to Florida's huge tourism industry that brought 112.4 million out-of-state and international visitors to the state last year.

But industry official say much will depend on the storm's path — be it over Florida or off the Atlantic Coast.

"The area of Florida that takes it on the chin will be hit the hardest," in terms of longer-term tourism impacts, said Mark Waltrip, chief operating officer for Orlando-based Westgate Resorts, which operates about 9,000 units in Florida, most of them condo-style timeshares. Most are concentrated in the Orlando area, with some in other major tourism centers, including Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach and Miami.

Just like the storm track itself, the impact on the tourism business is "very difficult to predict," Waltrip said.

"The storm, just because of its track, is affecting the entire state," said Eric Garvey, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, whose territory includes the popular Cocoa Beach area and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. "Once we're in the path of a storm, it causes a big disruption" in the tourism industry.

"We're hoping for the best, and we'll deal with what we have to deal with," Garvey said

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Garvey said the Space Coast hotel industry will be affected, at least in the short term, because about half of the roughly 9,000 rooms of the hotel inventory are along the coast in the Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral and "Melbourne beaches" tourism zones. Those areas are under mandatory evacuation.

Additionally, the Space Coast's most popular paid tourist attraction — the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex — will be closed from Friday through Tuesday because of Irma.

In the Orlando area — the nation's No. 1 tourism destination, with 68 million visitors last year — Visit Orlando President and Chief Executive Officer George Aguel said his agency currently is "taking on a more aggressive position with visitor support and guidance." That would include helping people displaced by the storm find hotel rooms.

In the aftermath of the storm — and assuming there is not major damage in the Orlando area — Aguel said, Visit Orlando would switch gears. It will start delivering the message to potential tourists that "we're open for business, and we look forward to having you here."

"We will message that very strongly on all of our platforms on social and traditional media," Aguel said. "A lot will depend on what the outcome of the storm will bring" in terms of facility damage.

"This is an entirely fluid situation," Aguel said.

But, Aguel added, "We do tend to rebound fairly quickly here."

Also helping the Orlando area get through tourism fallout from Hurricane Irma is the region's reputation as the theme park capital of the world.

"The theme parks will be the barometer of the comeback," Aguel said.

"Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, all have major theme parks in the Orlando area, do a great job of marketing their products," Waltrip said. "If there's not significant damage, people are going to travel."

As of Thursday, the Walt Disney World theme parks in the Orlando area continued to operate as normal, with the exception of some special nighttime event cancellations on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Disney indicated that it has a wide-ranging hurricane-preparedness plan that considers a number of possible impacts this type of storm could have on its property, and that it takes numerous proactive measures to keep the safety of its guests and staff as a priority.

Garvey said the Space Coast tourism agency temporarily ceased its planned advertising and marketing, as Hurricane Irma approached. 

After the storm passes, Garvey said, his agency will modify its outreach to potential tourists to "focus on communicating the conditions on the ground," including providing factual information on any damage.

Part of that would be to combat any misleading, overblown information about damage that may be out there on social media or elsewhere.

"You don't want to leave it out there, that the place was devastated, and that's not a place where you would want to go," Garvey said. 

Florida's cruise industry has been significantly affected by the storm, with major cruise lines canceling voyages out of the nation's big 3 cruise ports — Port of Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades.

Orlando Melbourne International Airport will suspend commercial flights and close the terminal at 6 p.m. Saturday.  The airfield will remain open for private aircraft as long as weather conditions allow.  

The hurricane comes at a time when people are starting to plan their Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations. But it also comes at a time when there typically is a post-Labor Day lull in Florida tourism.

"When the rubber meets the road, it all depends on how much damage" Irma cause physically as to how much damage it causes to the tourism industry, Waltrip said.

Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

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