Florida is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country.
But that does not mean it is going to bend over backward to cater to the Left.
And Florida made one tourism decision that sent the woke outrage mob into a frenzy.
Florida scrubs LGBTQ travel info from the state travel website
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis famously proclaimed that “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
Now, he finds himself in the middle of another controversy involving wokeness.
VisitFlorida.com, the state’s official website for tourism, quietly removed the section of the site that was for “LGBTQ Travel.”
The section advertised LGBTQ-friendly beaches, pride parades, and road trips.
A link to the section now redirects to a general list of things to do in Florida.
The LGBTQ community was outraged at the change.
“It’s just disgusting to see this,” Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce Keith Blackburn told the Associated Press. “They seem to want to erase us.”
Blackburn claimed that the policies coming out of the state capitol Tallahassee were making it harder to promote tourism in the state.
A coalition of left-wing activist groups issued a travel advisory about Florida last year because of policies by DeSantis and the Florida Legislature that are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
The NAACP, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Equality Florida partnered to warn tourists about the Sunshine State.
Florida has record-setting tourism coming out of the pandemic.
But the NAACP warned travelers the state “devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”
Blackburn whined that DeSantis, and the Florida Legislature were giving the state a bad name.
“It’s difficult when these kinds of stories come out, and the state does these things, and we hear people calling for a boycott,” Blackburn said. “On one level, it’s embarrassing to have to explain why people should come to South Florida and our destination when the state is doing these things.”
Ron DeSantis laughs off travel boycotts of Florida
The boycotts and travel advisories did not put a dent in Florida’s tourism industry.
DeSantis announced that the second quarter of 2024 was the best in the state’s history for tourism numbers.
“Florida continues to set the standard as the top destination for tourists,” DeSantis said in a statement.
A stunning two million international tourists in addition to 31.5 million Americans visited the Sunshine State in the second quarter.
“These impressive numbers reflect the success of our efforts to prioritize public safety, freedom, and common-sense leadership,” DeSantis continued. “These priorities make the Free State of Florida a most appealing place to visit.”
DeSantis took a shot at the left-wing activist groups that slapped travel advisories on Florida.
“This is the highest second-quarter tourism number in Florida history; a 1.7 percent increase over the same period last year,” DeSantis wrote on X. “Evidently, no one cares about the ‘travel advisories’ from left-wing activist groups.”
Florida once again came out on top in a battle against the woke outrage mob.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
