FlaglerLive | June 6, 2018
Florida drew an estimated 33.2 million visitors from January through March, which was a 7.4 percent increase over the same period in 2017.
FlaglerLive | October 22, 2017
Paul C. Pershes, president of the 1,100-home Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association, addresses members of a key senate committee that will be hearing proposed regulations of short-term rentals.
FlaglerLive | June 28, 2017
Visit Florida President and CEO Ken Lawson said he and others have heard anecdotal reports, both positive and negative, about international travel due to Donald Trump.
FlaglerLive | May 16, 2017
A good showing in December aside, when year-over-year tourism tax receipts jumped 18 percent, Flagler County has done less well, and not necessarily because of Hurricane Matthew.
FlaglerLive | February 23, 2017
Palm Coast’s Rep. Paul Renner continued to defend the proposals, which would cut Visit Florida’s budget to $25 million, as the House bill heads for a floor vote in march, but still without viable Senate support.
FlaglerLive | February 20, 2017
Visit Florida received $78 million from lawmakers for the current fiscal year that ends June 30. The Sunshine State attracted 112.8 million tourists in 2016. He credited the 5.86 percent increase from the prior year.
FlaglerLive | February 13, 2017
Gov. Rick Scott was in campaign mode in a visit to Flagler Beach Monday as he criticized Flagler’s Rep. Paul Renner, a fellow-Republican, for introducing a bill that would eliminate Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida.
FlaglerLive | November 21, 2016
The 5.1 percent increase from the same time last year came as Canadians, Florida’s top source of foreign tourism, have cut back on travel due to their nation’s weakened dollar.
FlaglerLive | September 9, 2016
In the past three months, there has been a mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, a 2-year-old child killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World, toxic algae blooms choking East and West Coast waterways, and the continued spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
FlaglerLive | August 4, 2016
A big concern for Florida is the frequency of travel between the state and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, where more than 4,500 cases have been reported, nearly all contracted through mosquitoes.
FlaglerLive | August 24, 2015
Florida’s October hunt has drawn almost 1,800 hunters against a black bear quota of 320, in parts of the state where the killing will be allowed.
FlaglerLive | May 17, 2015
Features of the app include state boating information, a safety equipment checklist, free boating safety check requests, navigation rules, float plans, and calling features to report pollution or suspicious activity.
FlaglerLive | February 16, 2015
Monthly tax collections from Flagler’s 4 percent surtax (or bed tax) on fees at hotels, motels and other short-term rentals were up 13 percent by the end of the 2014 fiscal year (it ended in September), after increasing 5 percent the previous year.
FlaglerLive | September 3, 2014
Gamble Rogers State Park is a 145 acre expanse on the barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal in Flagler Beach, named for the Florida folk singer who drowned there in 1991 while trying to save another swimmer in distress.
FlaglerLive | August 21, 2014
Rose-colored Florida is a cynical myth, the stuff of marketing brochures, a developers’ conspiracy of enticing fiction to make their cash registers ring. The real Florida is a bitter, brooding reality beyond sugarcoating, argues Stephen Goldstein.
FlaglerLive | October 16, 2013
Sen. John Thrasher and Rep. Travis Hutson made their pledge to repeal the vacation-rental law during the annual legislative delegation meeting in Flagler Wednesday, which drew more than a full house because of that controversial issue. But repeal is unlikely as the 2011 law, which makes it easier to operate a house as a mini-hotel, passed the Senate unanimously, and the House overwhelmingly.
FlaglerLive | October 2, 2013
Starting Tuesday, the National Park Service closed all 401 national parks, including Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments in St. Augustine, affecting the local tourism economy. Potential foreign visitors’ visas are facing processing delays.
FlaglerLive | September 16, 2013
Audra Akins was 14 when he murdered British tourist Gary Colley at an I-10 rest stop near Tallahassee 20 years ago. His life sentence was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. He was re-sentenced to 40 years, making him eligible for release in 12 years.
FlaglerLive | July 18, 2013
The boycott-Florida movement has quickly grown on social media and with such headliners as Stevie Wonder while Gov. Rick Scott and the state’s business groups downplay the effectiveness of the effort, which could nevertheless hurt the state’s tourism and convention business.
FlaglerLive | May 8, 2013
The Florida Legislature’s $74 billion budget contains, as always, innumerable surprises in the fine print, from $240,000 to be spent on orange juice served visitors at highway stops to $500,000 to advertise stay-in-state vacations to Floridians.
FlaglerLive | March 10, 2013
State lawmakers are speeding toward repealing a new law that says international visitors need special permits to drive in Florida. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, has caused a brouhaha, particularly for Canadian snowbirds who pile into the Sunshine State each winter to take a break from the cold.
FlaglerLive | February 22, 2013
The Flagler’s Tourist Development Council is spearheading an effort to make sure landlords who rent homes or condominiums on a short-term basis, defined as less than six months, pay the 4 percent tourist development tax.
FlaglerLive | February 1, 2013
Up to two Major League Soccer franchises would be eligible for subsidies given to other pro sports teams in Florida under a bill filed in the Legislature, a nod to Orlando’s bid to bring an MLS team to the area.
FlaglerLive | December 1, 2012
As the Dolphins muddle through another season, the South Florida organization was the only professional team from Florida — and the only NFL entry on the whole list of North American sports franchises — to record a plummet in fans over the past decade.
FlaglerLive | July 24, 2012
Economic woes in Europe will trickle across the Atlantic over the next few years as potential international guests stay home or see their native currency buy less once they arrive, a panel of economists estimates.
FlaglerLive | July 12, 2010
Despite EPA warnings that some Florida beaches may be unsafe, people are taking to them–and getting sick.
Pierre Tristam | June 12, 2010
I’ll be on CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield during the 3 p.m. hour discussing the oil spill’s impact on local governments, and particular local school districts.
FlaglerLive | May 21, 2010
Flagler County’s emergency response to the oil slick hitting Flagler Beaches is similar to hurricane preparation. It’s happening now.
Pierre Tristam | May 2, 2010
The BP rig disaster will spill more oil in the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez did in Prince William Sound. Time to cap the follies of cheering for more offshore oil-drilling in Florida.
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