Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is championing the state as a tourist spot, citing that “Florida sets another record” on vacation trips.
In a message directed to supporters from Team DeSantis, the team announced that “for the third quarter in a row, overall visitation to Florida has exceeded pre-pandemic levels,” noting that “from January to March of this year, an estimated 36 million people vacationed in the Sunshine State, which is almost a 40% increase over the first quarter of 2021.”
The statistics come amidst a time when the Governor is involved in a feud with Disney, which resulted in the Florida legislature voting to cease Disney’s authority to self-govern. The Governor has also received widespread criticism from Democrats, and most recently Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) attempted to court Disney to move to Colorado.
Praising the vacation visits, the Governor addressed that the stimulation in tourism is the result of people being drawn to his “freedom agenda.” Often calling the state the freest state in the country, DeSantis has pushed back against the Biden administration and Dr. Fauci concerning their calls for implementing vaccine mandates, mask mandates and other responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Florida’s economy is booming because the Governor kept our businesses open while Democrat-led states shuttered businesses,” says Team DeSantis.
In a statement, DeSantis praised the “record,” expressing that “Economists originally projected that Florida tourism wouldn’t fully recover until 2024,” but “Florida’s visitation numbers continue to break records and defy conventional wisdom.”
Instead, Governor DeSantis asserts that “Florida’s tourism industry begins 2022 with incredible strength, proving that freedom first policies will always win.”
Team DeSantis argues that both the economy and the tourism industry are “thriving” because of “the commonsense, freedom first leadership of Governor DeSantis.”
Governor DeSantis is currently seeking reelection, and Florida’s economy will be a topic of contention as the November election looms nearer.
