Travel Restrictions Would Devastate FL Tourism Industry: Leaders

TAMPA, FL — State tourism officials said rumored travel restrictions to Florida would have a devastating impact on economic recovery efforts.

On Friday, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, which represents 10,000 restaurants and hotels in Florida, responded to a McClatchy report that the Biden administration was considering imposing domestic travel restrictions on certain states, including Florida, to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

More than a third of all cases of the United Kingdom variant identified in the United States have been in Florida.

No decision has been made on imposing travel restrictions between states, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, The Hill reported.

"We are always considering what steps are necessary to keep the American people safe, but we are not currently in the process of — no decisions have been made around additional public health measures that would delay or would change, I should say, domestic travel considerations," Psaki said at a press briefing, The Hill said.

President Joe Biden didn't mention travel restrictions in his "Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel," issued Jan. 21 nor did he talk about taking such actions during remarks Friday in a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors and mayors to discuss his American Rescue Plan.

See related story: Florida Officials Say They'll Fight Travel Restrictions: Report

Nevertheless, the report put Florida's governor and tourism industry on the defensive.

Noting that tourism is Florida's top industry, Carol Dover, president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said a ban on travel to Florida with the approach of spring break would cripple the industry at a time when it's just beginning to recover.

“While we believe public safety is paramount, our members have done everything in their power to go above and beyond sanitation and safety procedures to keep guests and employees safe during this unprecedented time," Dover said Friday.

She said Florida hotels and restaurants are already hurting due to the cancellation of conventions and business conferences in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Restricting travel would sound a death knell for businesses that depend on tourism.

"We are still significantly down because of conference and business travel being down. To restrict individuals and their families from coming to Florida would absolutely kill the economic progress we have made in recent months," she said. "As more vaccines are distributed, we are confident that even more people will want to travel to Florida, and we are more than ready and eager to welcome them.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would vehemently oppose any attempt by the federal government to restrict travel to Florida.

"It would be unconstitutional; it would be unwise; and it would be unjust," said DeSantis during a news conference. "We will oppose it 100 percent. It would not be based in science. It would purely be a political attack against the people of Florida."

DeSantis said it's unclear why Florida would even be included in a travel ban. Florida's rate of coronavirus is lower than half the other states in the country. In addition, Florida ranks 30th in the country for the number of coronavirus hospitalizations and 42nd in the number of coronavirus deaths.

"Well over half the country has seen much worse COVID results than here in Florida," he said. "We've vaccinated more people than any other state in the age bracket where the most fatalities occur - age 65 plus. We are now reporting that about 1.6 million seniors have received a shot. That's about 35 percent of our gigantic senior population, which is about 4.5 million."

DeSantis said he would block "any attempt to restrict or lock down Florida by the federal government."

"We will not back down, and if anyone tries to hurt Floridians or harm us, we will respond very swiftly," he said.

DeSantis's assertions that Florida has the coronavirus under control are reflected in the latest update from the Florida Department of Health.

As of Friday, Florida had 1,814,422 positive cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began. Of those, 75,734 were hospitalized and 29,061 people have died.

But in recent weeks, Florida has experienced a downward trend with the current positivity rate at 6.22 percent. On Thursday, the DOH reported 7,521 new cases, more than half the number reported during the most recent peak on Jan. 14 of 16,559.

The DOH also reported four deaths Thursday, a notable contrast to Jan. 13 when there were 191 deaths in a single day.

Both the FRLA and Visit Florida, the state's tourism bureau, applauded DeSantis's strong stance against travel restrictions.

"Instituting travel restrictions to Florida is not only bad policy but would erase the small steps toward recovery that Florida hotels and restaurants have made," she said. "Our state relies on visitors to keep people employed, fund state and local government and remain state income tax free," she said.

Dana Young, president and CEO of Visit Florida, said the tourism bureau has launched several campaigns to bolster tourism and has just started to see positive results after experiencing a 34 percent loss in tourism between January and September 2020.

“The innovative marketing programs that we have launched at Visit Florida have well positioned Florida’s tourism for recovery,” said Young, noting that the campaigns emphasize ways the state is protecting visitors from the coronavirus.

"While the Florida tourism industry has experienced a downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs that the industry will rebound," she said. "The third quarter 2020 figure of over 22 million visitors was a noticeable upgrade from the 60.5 percent drop in tourism experienced in April, May and June."

The report of travel restrictions also come at a time when hotels and theme parks in Florida have begun rehiring the thousands of Floridians who were laid off due to the pandemic.

Florida was among the first states to reopen restaurants, bars and entertainment venues and welcome back tourists following business closures throughout the country.

According to Ballotpedia, only 12 states and Washington, D.C., currently have active travel restrictions. Ballotpedia said the main arguments against travel restrictions are that they are unfair to businesses that depend on tourism, they are difficult to enforce, they damage local economies and there is no evidence that they reduce coronavirus rates.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, has designated the United States a dangerous place to visit on the CDC's 4-level system of categorizing the coronavirus risk to travelers. The United States, along with all of Europe and South America and most of the African continent, is designated Level 4, indicating that travelers have a very high likelihood of contracting the coronavirus and "should avoid all travel to these destinations."

Courtesy CDC