TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As lawmakers return to Tallahassee next month, Visit Florida may once again face scrutiny over whether the state’s tourism bureau is still worth its roughly $80 million annual price tag. Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Florida, is proposing to keep the agency funded for another fiscal year. That’s as the Florida House has repeatedly questioned whether the state should reform, scale back, or scrap the program entirely.

The House has previously tried to curb or eliminate the agency’s funding, including a 2025 tax proposal that would have dissolved all 62 local tourist development councils last season. In 2023, members planned to shift Visit Florida’s dollars to local tourism taxes instead.

Supporters of those plans argued Florida’s tourism success was driven by policy choices, not marketing. As Rep. Mike Giallombardo, R–Cape Coral, put it in March 2023: “Florida it’s a supply and demand thing. Florida was open. We had no masks. People came to Florida because we were free.”

Visit Florida’s new CEO, Bryan Griffin, is pushing back. He has a revamped strategy centered on international outreach and new technology, including AI-driven travel marketing. He argues the bureau is more than helpful, it’s essential to Florida’s competitive edge.

“Tourism is an investment in the state of Florida, and the state of Florida has made that investment far before me, and it has paid dividends,” Griffin said.

The former DeSantis communications director also pointed to economic impacts like tax revenue and household benefit.

“In one year, about $37 billion of tax revenues, or $2,000 per Florida household, was generated through tourism,” said Griffin. “So that’s an investment that’s important in the state of Florida. We safeguard that investment.”

But critics say cost isn’t the only concern. Last year, LGBTQ advocates demanded answers after Visit Florida quietly removed LGBTQ travel pages from its website last year, warning it could hurt the state’s reputation and tourism industry. The previous CEO, Dana Young, suggested the pages were removed to comply with state law.

“It hurts, it hurts to kind of be erased in that way,” said LGBTQ advocate Rachel Covello at the time. “From a business standpoint — it just doesn’t make sense to me. This is a high-income, high-revenue-generating demographic for the state.”

The agency’s political future grows murkier as Republican leadership appears divided. Current House Speaker Danny Perez, R-Miami, is at odds with the governor on multiple policy fronts, while Speaker-designate Sam Garrison is punting on questions about Visit Florida’s fate.

When asked if he thinks the bureau should stick around, Garrison replied: “We’ll have that discussion when we get here in 2027 or whatever it is. I’m not worried about that one right now.”

No bills have been filed yet to eliminate Visit Florida in 2026, but prior repeal attempts have often surfaced late in session. With internal pressure building and no clear consensus among GOP leadership, the state’s tourism agency enters January as a political wild card. Lawmakers gavel in January 13th.

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