ICYMI: Panama City News Herald: Gov. Scott touts tourism, jobs at PCB stop

Gov. Scott touts tourism, jobs at PCB stop
Panama City News Herald
John Henderson
February 14, 2017
Gov. Rick Scott told local business and tourism officials Tuesday a proposal to eliminate the state’s tourism marketing and economic development agencies could devastate the local economy.
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The roundtable attracted a standing-room-only crowd at Capt. Anderson’s, with a wide range of local officials — including business owners, economic development leaders, tourism leaders and city and county elected officials — saying they supported Scott’s effort to keep the agencies.
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Scott said Enterprise Florida, which provides incentive payments for new companies to locate here or expand, has gotten a great return on the state’s investment.
Dan Rowe, executive director of the Bay County Tourist Development Council and a member of the Visit Florida Board of Directors, said the area already is seeing that return. He said the $30 million he secured for marketing this area after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was invaluable in helping the area recover and demonstrated “the power of destination marketing.”
Jorge Gonzalez, president of The St. Joe Co. who also is on the board of Enterprise Florida, also spoke in favor of the agencies.
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Former Florida House Speaker Allan Bense re-emphasized both agencies are working and creating jobs.
“In this particular case, if we do away with Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida, it would be the worst catastrophe to hit the state of Florida,” Bense said.
Jennifer Adams, the executive director of the Gulf County Tourist Development Council, said tourism is an integral part of Gulf County’s economy, as well.
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State Sen. George Gainer, R-Panama City, said he supports Scott’s position.
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“Tourism drives the economy of our coastal communities in Northwest Florida and offering economic incentives to businesses looking to relocate to our state is what helps create new jobs,” Gainer said in an afternoon news release. “Eliminating funding for these two vital programs is (short-sighted) and another example of some of the bad ideas that come out of Tallahassee.”
Bill Dozier, chairman of the Bay County Commission, praised Scott for his economic development efforts.
“We appreciate what you are doing for jobs in Florida,” he said. “You have been able to lay the groundwork to bring so many jobs here. And for us to be competitive throughout the United States, to be able to attract jobs here. We need all the incentives that are going on. We don’t need to abolish it.”