Local business owner reacts to Visit Florida removing LGBTQ travel guide

A local business owner is speaking out against Visit Florida.

This comes after Dana Young, the President and CEO of the state-funded tourism agency explained why they removed the LGBTQ travel information from their website.

Last month, travelers realized Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing agency, removed the LGBTQ Travel section from its website.

It’s something business owners in the state expressed their concern over recently during the agency’s quarterly meeting.

“I think about the amazing decisions that this organization has made to move tourism forward and I’m one of the small businesses that is a part of that,” Maryann Ferenc, owner of Mise En Place located in Tampa, said. “And I know many businesses that are benefiting — it’s the number one industry in the state, you all know that so it makes it very difficult to understand that decision.”LGBTQ-friendly

And when it was time for the explanation as to why the guide was removed Young explained “Visit Florida is a taxpayer-funded organization and, as such, Visit Florida, our marketing strategy, our materials, and our content must align with the state.”

“It’s quite upsetting, actually,” Staci Ybarra, the owner of Incahoots, said.

Her business is an LGBTQ-friendly nightclub in Jacksonville.

She said something like this should never happen because it’s going to hurt businesses that were on it.

“There’s so much going on in our community that we’re fighting for rights as is and now you take something that we’ve had for years,” Ybarra said. “And it’s a big tool for a lot of the businesses in Florida.”

Although there isn’t a state LGBTQ travel guide anymore, Visit Jacksonville still has there’s, which Ybarra’s business is listed on.

Something she said is beneficial for her.

“Well, in Jacksonville, as you know, we’re not a big tourist town,” Ybarra said. “We do have some at the beaches and such, football games and such, but overall, we’re not a big tourist town. So when people do come to town for those kind of things, or whether they’re here traveling on business, whatever it is, they need a guide somewhere to go to find out, for lack of a better expression, where are my people?

She said the Visit Jacksonville LGBTQ list is important and hopes it never goes away, while also hoping the state’s travel guide comes back.

News4JAX did reach out to Visit Jacksonville to ask if the local LGBTQ travel guide will stay up, and we are waiting to hear back.