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Saturday, July 8th, 2023

Experts panic over Florida tourism as major conventions flee state’s ‘unfriendly political environment’

Author:     Adam Nichols
Source:     Raw Story
Publication Date:     July 7, 2023 | 10:02 AM ET
 Link: Experts panic over Florida tourism as major conventions flee state’s ‘unfriendly political environment’
Stephan:  

In contrast to the good things I covered in the previous article that are happening in Minnesota and as well in Michigan under Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, here is what is happening in Florida under christofascist Republican Ron DeSantis. First there was the stupidity of his fight with Disney the state’s largest employer then immigrant agricultural workers fleeing the state, then college professors resigning, then LGBTQ folk leaving in droves, and now the loss of conventions and conferences, and all the business that brings to hotels, restaurants, and all the other things visitors have traditionally enjoyed in Florida. De Santis is thrashing his state at a time when he should be planning what Florida is going to do as nearly half of it submerges due to the sea rise he does not fully acknowledge.

Christofascist Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. Credit: Gage Skidmore

Convention organizers are pulling out of Florida, which is devastating knock-on tourism and causing panic over the future of the industry, experts warned in a report Friday.

When asked for a reason why they were scrapping plans, one organizer wrote simply: “Governor DeSantis.”

More than half a dozen planned conventions in Broward County, which encompasses the Fort Lauderdale area, have been scrapped in recent months, according to a list drawn up by the county’s tourism promotion group Visit Lauderdale and reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“We lost this program due to political climate,” Visit Lauderdale notes on a decision by the Supreme Council of America Inc., Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite Masons to cancel its meeting, planned for August next year. It also canceled 855 hotel rooms.

Thousands of dollars are also being lost by restaurants and attractions by visitors going elsewhere.

“We were so close on this one,” read another note on the cancellation of the 2024 National Family and […]

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1 Comment

  1. sam crespi on Saturday, July 8, 2023 at 11:23 am

    you get what you vote for!