PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida

Putnam: Visit Florida Needs More, Not Less, Support

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, widely considered a GOP gubernatorial frontrunner, is warning Florida lawmakers not to scale back marketing efforts.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is urging lawmakers not to cut the tourism promotion budget.
Credit Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

House Speaker Richard Corcoran wants to dramatically slash Visit Florida, but Putnam says it’s a bad idea for a destination state with an image problem. 

“Florida should market Florida. In a year when we’re coming off of two hurricanes, Zika, which disproportionately impacts young families and expectant mothers, the core of the visitors that come to our state, why would we stop selling Florida?”

Governor Rick Scott is locked in a bitter feud with Corcoran over Visit Florida funding and Corcoran’s proposal to eliminate Enterprise Florida, the state’s business recruiter.

What Corcoran calls corporate welfare, Scott calls job creation.

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