We still have a special bond with Canada: A conversation with Visit Florida’s CEO Bryan Griffin
Story: Bob Mowat + Header photo: Emergent Media
When you welcome as many visitors as Florida does every year, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion to draw that they don’t all come for the same type of vacation. Visit Florida is keenly aware of that and its message is that not only is the Sunshine State a “reliably fun” vacation destination, it’s also a place where visitors can discover the unexpected.
Simply put, Florida is about the ‘new’ and the ‘known.’
“There’s plenty of tradition when it comes to a trip to Florida,” observed Visit Florida’s CEO, Bryan Griffin. “You can see that from Canadian travellers who want that reliably fun vacation experience year after year,” adding, “Canadians love the beaches,” before continuing: “We’ve got other traditional visitors from the U.K. and from South America that their regular thing to do is to go to the theme parks and we’re glad to have that type of history together — it’s a rite of passage for so many.”
On the other hand, Griffin told Travel Courier during a recent stop in Toronto that: “The modern traveller, in addition to having the known experiences, wants to find some new opportunities.”
Visit Florida recognized this and, said Griffin, that recognition “drove our new brand refresh, which is the ‘Live More Floridays’ campaign” which is all about finding the ‘new’ and the ‘known.’
From swimming with manatees in their natural habitat in Crystal River, to ziplining over the lakes and canyons in Ocala, the ‘Live More Floridays’ campaign showcases the unexpected side of the State; spotlighting its hidden gems, off-the-beaten-path adventures, and authentic local experiences that reveal a richer, more surprising Florida waiting to be explored.
Photos courtesy: Emergent Media, Scott Sporleder, Bob Mowat, Orange Video
Griffin observed: “Travellers want to have new, personalized experiences and that’s why what we do here [in Canada] with travel agents and tour operators, the training or trainings [Visit Florida offers them], is to bring them the new opportunities about what’s new, so they can put those packages together and that’s so important.”
As for the kind of experiences that today’s travellers are looking for, Griffin pointed to sporting events, music concerts, celebrations, observing: “They want experiences, you know, big moments where people don’t want to miss out and I’m sure that will also be a factor in people’s travels for the World Cup. People want to be part of that.”
And he added that not only do “people want to be part of those things, they will take shorter but more frequent trips to have those experiential vacations.”
Griffin also pointed to Visit Florida’s Nature & Trails campaign that helps people connect to all the natural opportunities for travel that Florida has.
“We’ve got 175 state parks, 15,000 miles of hiking trails. You can swim with the Manatees. You can dive in The Keys. I mean, you’ve got so many opportunities in Florida to connect with nature, including the beaches. And I think some of the new and the known is finding some new hidden gem beach spots. There’s beaches all along Florida’s West Coast and the Gulf, where you’ve got really reliably warm water and good weather,” he said.
Beyond nature, Griffin pointed to antiquing in the Panhandle and the fact that all over the state, visitors will discover just how rich the state’s history is.
Photos courtesy: Emergent Media (1-3) + NPI Productions
“We’re leaning into [history] as Visit Florida is trying to expose some of those [historical] opportunities to people in our celebration of America 250,” and Griffin continued: “We’ve got road trips that we’ve advertised. There’s space exploration – people love that.”
Said Griffin: “We had, I think, a record breaking number of visitors come for the Artemis II launch — hundreds of thousands of people — we had people enjoying the space launch on the beach – which is a uniquely Florida experience — and, you know what, that was the U.S. and Canada doing something great together.”
For Griffin: “The new and the known is a way to help travellers who are prioritizing value in their vacations because if you go off the beaten path and experience some of Main Street Florida, rural Florida, then you’re going to have the opportunity to have a more cost-efficient travel experience.”
And value is something that more and more travellers are looking for today, with Griffin telling TC: “I hear that globally by the way [not just from Canada]. I heard that in Argentina [during a recent visit] and I heard it [in Canada during his visit].”
“People just want to know that the product that they’re buying is one where the supplier is at least conscious of the idea that they need to offer value [to the customer]. So, I’ve encouraged all of our partners in the hospitality industry to be value-forward in their advertising and to offer certain deals for travellers. Florida has a host of Canadian-specific deals and those remain in effect,” he said.
But value isn’t simply about the price tag, but rather what’s included in the cost and if it’s something that they want to do, then said Griffin: “People will pull together the money for a unique experience if it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing or it’s something that is part of their particular interest.”
For many travellers today, food is on their vacation menu and Florida can certainly serve up something in that area.
Griffin told TC that Florida now has six cities – Greater Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Pete-Clearwater, Greater Fort Lauderdale and The Palm Beaches – that are recognized by the Michelin Guide as eligible for Michelin ratings, observing: “So, you’ve got that opportunity for a unique experience as well — dining, attractions, outdoor and nature, accommodations – we’ve got it all.”
Photos courtesy: Visit Florida, Roundhouse Creative, Scott Sporleder and Roundhouse Creative
Florida by the numbers
While politics and tourism shouldn’t mix, the current political environment has had an impact on the tourism industry and on Canadians travelling to the U.S.
When asked about the performance of the Canadian market last year, Griffin, who took over his role as Visit Florida’s CEO in August of 2025, told TC that: “We just got data in from 2025 that shows that even though we did have a year-over-year ‘slight dip,’ we still had 3 million Canadian visitors to the state of Florida.”
And Visit Florida’s CEO continued: “We increased our market share of Canadian visitors by 3 percent — so, of all Canadian travel to the US in 2024, Florida had a 16.8 percent market share and in 2025, Florida had a 19.8 percent market share. So, I would say more Canadians are coming to Florida if they’re choosing to travel to the US.”
Griffin also pointed out that: “We still have a special bond with Canada. Florida and Canada have a long-standing relationship and a long-standing history of visitation. Visit Florida respects that — Canada is our number one source of visitors historically.”
Said Griffin: “Just to put things into perspective, even though there are shifting travel preferences, historically, Canadians have been about 2 percent of total Florida visitation and that was consistent last year, even with the slight dip.”
Griffin also made it clear that Visit Florida’s “specific, intentional decision about Canada is consistency. We remain consistently in the market. Other states pulled back last year, but Florida did not. We maintained our PR efforts, our travel and trade missions and our marketing.”
Photos courtesy: Emergent Media, Roundhouse Creative and Visit Sarasota County
And that approach appears to be paying off as Griffin told TC that during his visit to Toronto, all of Visit Florida’s Canadian partners here were telling him they “were optimistic” about 2026.
Some final thoughts
Asked about other trends that he’s seeing in the market these days, Griffin observed: “I think Florida has got a reliably fun place in people’s hearts. You know, people understand that Florida is a place where they can bring their family, feel safe, experience new things and revisit multiple times and still have different vacations every time.”
Griffin observed: “I think people see things online and stories on social media and they’ll think I want to live something like that. I want to have my own exploration in Florida, so that’s why we perform the services we perform in international markets like we do here in Canada, where we get travel agents and tour operators together and we either take them to Florida and show them those local and authentic options they can give to their clients or we’ll offer them digital trainings on things that we offer.”
As Griffin sees it: “That’s part of our job — to keep that top of mind for people. You know, we’ll lean into the trends. We’ll lean into the new traveller who wants those experiences and who takes shorter and more intentional trips. And we’ll certainly encourage people to save a couple of days at the end of their itinerary, maybe without a plan to go and explore.”
For the Canadian trade, Visit Florida’s CEO said: “We’re here to help you become experts in the State of Florida. We want to be a resource for you to pull together new travel packages to stay in front of trends and know what’s new in Florida.”
He pointed to Visit Florida TravelPro – www.visitfloridatravelpro.com — travel trade training program, telling CTP: “We’ve trained over 1,500 Canadian travel advisors already this year. We’re constantly looking to make advisors Florida experts.”
But most importantly, he told TC that what he wants the trade to know is that: “Florida is the same reliably fun vacation destination that Canadians have known for a long, long time.”
Photos courtesy: Emergent Media (1+2), Stacy Hilton + Visit Naples Florida
The Visit Florida CEO Lightning Round
Inside knowledge is always valuable and when it comes from the CEO of Visit Florida, Bryan Griffin, it’s just that much more valuable. C’mon, who knew there were two kinds of Cuban sandwiches? But, avoiding the need for a spoiler alert, Travel Courier asked Griffin a quartet of questions and here are his responses:
What’s your favourite weekend getaway – in Florida, of course?
My favourite weekend getaway is to the beaches on The Gulf. I love it… and I grew up in Florida, in Tampa. I’m a fourth-generation Tampa native and our vacation was to go 30 minutes west to St. Pete and go to the beaches there so, that’s my favourite getaway… and there are small beach towns along the beach that you can still enjoy.
So, what’s the hidden gem in Florida that more visitors should discover?
If you haven’t been to The Everglades, you’ve got to go visit The Everglades … there’s no place like it on Earth … it’s fascinating … you can do an airboat ride … you can camp … you can walk trails … it is just really amazing … it’s a big part of American history – The Everglades… it has had attention for over 100 years and the current Administration has done a ton to rejuvenate the Everglades and get water back flowing through it.
Yum yum, yum: What’s a must-try local Florida dish?
Well, try Cuban sandwiches in Tampa and Miami. We have kind of a friendly competition between the cities as to who’s got the better Cuban sandwich… now, growing up in Tampa, I favour the Tampa Cuba sandwich and in Tampa, Cuba sandwiches have salami. In Miami, Cuban sandwiches do not [have salami]… that’s where some of the battles go back and forth.
So, if a Canadian had three days in Florida, what’s the itinerary that you’d recommend – one that will surprise them?
That’s a good one… you know, I’m not supposed to play favourites, but I would just say, you can spend three days in three different parts of Florida and you can drive. It’s a big State, but you can certainly drive in between and get to where you want to go. So, you could do Miami, Orlando, Tampa … you could do between those places … just be open to exploring … and if you really want to explore some old Florida, some historic Florida, go to the Panhandle and spend three days up there travelling the coastal towns… St. George Island, Destin, Fort Worth, and then you can go to Mariana, Florida, where we have caves – which you would not expect in the State of Florida… and you can walk through the caves.
