First it was Pres. Obama with his comments about Vegas, and now it’s California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s turn. He says Florida is ‘for the old people’ and that no one wants to take a vacation in Iowa.

CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

In his appearance at the Next American Economy conference in San Jose, CA hosted by The Brookings Institution, the Governor noted that California has a reputation as a destination.

He then said that people all over the world want to visit California, but there’s no one screaming “I can’t wait to get to Iowa.”

Next up Florida - After a tame statement that one state is famous for potatoes and another one for its oil, he finished up by saying that “Florida is known for the old people.”

A spokesman for Iowa Gov. Chet Culver immediately fired back with a snide dig comparing Iowa’s balanced budget with California’s messy finances. He also invited Gov. Schwarzenegger to come visit Iowa and see for himself the best of what Iowa has to offer to visitors.

Florida hasn’t responded yet, but here’s a comparison of the tourism statistics of the Golden and Sunshine states. Might prove to be a bit of a wake-up call for the Governator.

California (2008 figures):-
Annual Visitors - 351 million
Travel Spending – $97.6 billion
Travel State Tax Revenues - $2.8 billion
Travel Employment – 924,000

Florida (2008 figures):-
Annual Visitors – 84.2 million
Travel Spending – $65.2 billion
Travel Sales Tax Revenues – $3.9 billion
Travel Employment – 1,007,000

Out of Florida’s 84.2 million visitors, 76.1 million were domestic visitors, and 82.5% of these domestic visitors said their primary reason for visiting Florida was for leisure. Bottomline - a majority of Florida’s visitors come not because they have to, but because they want to, and they spend a lot more than those visiting California.

So while California remains the most visited state and hogs 11.5% of all domestic travel, it doesn’t exactly translate into the kind of benefits that Florida gets from it’s share of visitors.

Instead of disparaging Florida as America’s retirement home, Gov. Schwarzenegger might want to study why visitor spending in Florida is so high, and how they manage to employ more people in the travel industry.

Share