A growing number of conventions are pulling out of the Sunshine State, citing the state’s current political climate.
Tourism officials in Broward, Miami-Dade and Orange Counties say at least a dozen national conventions that were planned for Florida have either been canceled or the organizers chose to hold their event in a different state.
For instance, the Game of Thrones fan convention, Con of Thrones, canceled its August event in Orlando citing what it calls “anti-humanitarian legislation and atmosphere in Florida.”
And the National Society of Black Engineers moved its 2024 convention from Orlando to Atlanta saying the state’s political climate “seeks to undermine what we stand for.”
"This is nothing more than a media-driven stunt," said Jeremy Redfern, Press Secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"As Governor DeSantis announced in May [flgov.com], Florida is experiencing record tourism, with the Q1 2023 having the largest volume of visitors during a single quarter in recorded history.
As noted in a recent Bloomberg piece [bloomberg.com], “For the first time, six fast-growing states in the South — Florida, Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee — are contributing more to the national GDP than the Northeast, with its Washington-New York-Boston corridor…” Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, Florida’s economy is booming, with Florida being the fastest growing state [census.gov] and having the largest [census.gov] net domestic in-migration[tampabayedc.com]."
