Visit Florida Opens Free Web Listings to All Tourism Businesses

Visit Florida, the state's public-private marketing corporation, has started offering any tourism business a free listing on its Web site, billed as the nation's top destination marketing Web site. Before the Friday announcement, Visit Florida's listings werefree only for its 34,000 partners.

This is a win-win for our visitors and the Florida tourism industry, said Ed Fouche, chairman of the Visit Florida board of directors.By opening up our Web site to all tourism businesses across the state, consumers will benefit from having access to significantly more information to help them better plan their next Florida vacation. We know that the best way to support Florida tourism businesses is to put their information in front of travelers interested in the Sunshine State, and this free marketing opportunity does just that.

In its advertisements, Visit Florida has been directing travelers wary that the Gulf oil spill will ruin their beach vacations to its Web site and Florida Live page, which updates regularly with photos andlive video to show which beaches are clean of oil. It has also set up a Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Update page.

The site experienced record traffic in June, with 719,070 visits, a 46 percent increase over the same time last year, according to Visit Florida. Florida Live generated 132,992 page views that month.

Businesses interested in the free listings can visit www.VISITFLORIDA.org/free, or call(877) 435-2872.