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Good morning Elizabeth!
See the letter below sent by the Chamber's President and CEO Shane A. Moody to the Florida Senate and the Governor’s office in opposition of PCB RRS2, which is aimed at eliminating state funding for VISIT FLORIDA.
Dear Senator Trumbull/Governor DeSantis,
As a local business leader, I am writing to respectfully request that you oppose the proposed PCB RRS2. As you may be aware, this regulation is certain to have a devastating effect on Florida's number one industry, and I ask you to consider the potential negative consequences before making a decision.
As you know, Florida's economy is heavily dependent on the tourism industry. The state's beautiful beaches, world-renowned theme parks, and other attractions draw millions of visitors each year, generating billions of dollars in revenue for the state. However, the proposed PCB RRS2 has the potential to harm this vital industry.
• The proposed regulation would create a significant burden on businesses and organizations. Florida has no state income tax and residents save $1,500 annually in taxes thanks to the local and state revenue generated by tourism promotion driven visitation.
• VISIT FLORIDA generates a return on investment of $3.27 in taxes for each dollar invested by the State of Florida.
• The new PCB would effectively destroy VISIT FLORIDA by reducing it to a shell of its current form, which has been highly successful.
• New match requirements contained in this bill stipulate on a “by county” basis, which will make it impossible for VISIT FLORIDA to meet match requirements.
• VISIT FLORIDA would be limited in serving as the statewide brand as only 29 of Florida’s counties would be in the pool of counties eligible to receive the benefit of 75 percent of VISIT FLORIDA’s expenditures. This leaves very little for the remainder of Florida’s counties.
• Industry members in non-rural counties are not going to participate in VISIT FLORIDA if they cannot benefit from its programming.
• More than 90 percent of all tourism businesses in the state would be served by less than 25 percent of VISIT FLORIDA’s budget - thousands of small businesses are negatively impacted by virtue of their location outside of a rural county.
• The state lodging industry agreed to levy the Tourist Development Taxes to fund local tourism promotion and this bill is a massive breach of that agreement.
• The bill also puts all entities that rely on Tourist Development Tax collections into jeopardy by mandating local referendums every six years.
• This bill kills local tourism promotion by making retaining staff and vendors impossible. Who will take a job that could be sunset every six years?
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Shane A. Moody, CCE, FCCP
President & CEO
Destin Chamber
You may read the full bill here.
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