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CNN Live At Daybreak

Florida Looking Up After Ad Campaign Zigged Where Business Had Started to Sag

Aired December 18, 2001 - 05:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A forecast of a different sort right now, though, an economic outlook. The tourism industry has suffered since the 9-11 attacks.

But as CNN's John Zarrella shows us, things in Florida are looking up after an ad campaign zigged where business had started to sag.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Leung said no. He wasn't going to let fear wash away his vacation plans.

GEORGE LEUNG, TOURIST: I just felt that, you know, I can't always be hiding. And I figure, you know, I need a vacation. So I'm taking the chance.

ZARRELLA: Leung, from New York, flew to Miami with his family to soak up the tropical sun and dig their toes in the sands of South Beach. The problem is there still aren't enough Leung families out there to jump start Florida's number one and most important industry, tourism. Ask hotel owner Judith Berson.

JUDITH BERSON, HOTEL OWNER: We don't have heavy industry like the Northeast. And so it's very devastating when there are no tourists.

ZARRELLA: Berson's Edison Hotel is doing much better now than immediately after 9-11. But empty tables at cafes and restaurants are telling. Getting better, looking up are the most used phrases by tourism officials across the state. In Orlando, where hotel occupancy rates are down 12 percent from a year ago, an ad campaign called Family Time, Family Place has been hugely successful. The television and print ads target people living in markets close enough to Orlando that they can drive. The $5 million campaign is, Orlando officials say, paying for itself thousands of times over just in tourism increases from Miami and Atlanta.

JOSE ESTORINA, ORANGE COUNTY VISITORS BUREAU: Those two markets combined, with that incremental level of visitation, translates to over $170 million of economic impact in our community.

ZARRELLA: For Florida tourism, the winter months make or break the industry. The Orlando theme parks are adding hundreds of temps for the holidays, expecting decent crowds, but not magical. It's still not clear how the 9-11 events will impact the European and Latin American travelers who have to fly to get here.

(on camera): But most people in the U.S. will be driving. AAA says that 79 percent of Christmas/New Year's travelers will drive to their destinations. That's up four percent from last year. And it's the drop in the price of gasoline that's fueled the tourism rebound.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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