Some believe attacks show Florida is too reliant on tourism

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida has relied on tourism ever since the days when Julia Tuttle, known as the Mother of Miami, implored industrialist Henry Flagler to extend his railroad tracks all the way to Miami.

Flagler's railway, built more than 100 years ago, made it possible for visitors to reach South Florida easily. Automobiles and airplanes made the state even more accessible and air conditioning made year-round trips endurable. Disney's arrival in 1971 turned Orlando into the nation's No. 1 tourist destination.

But last month's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and the resulting abrupt drop in visitors to Florida have some wondering whether the Sunshine State is too dependent on tourism. Hotels and motels are reporting record vacancies and theme parks have cut back on workers' hours.

Gov. Jeb Bush plans to call a special session of the state Legislature because of a budget shortfall that has been exacerbated by the decline in visitors.

"Tourism is wonderful, but we need to have more diversity so we can survive these types of hits," said state Sen. Daryl Jones, a Democrat who is trying to unseat Bush in the 2002 gubernatorial race.

"The Sept. 11 event and the fallout from that shows us that we need to take stronger action to diversify our sources of income," Jones said.

Travel-driven state

By conservative estimates, tourism accounts for more than $50 billion, or more than 10 percent, of Florida's $450 billion economy.

More than 874,000 of Florida's 7.2 million nonfarm jobs, or more than an eighth, are directly related to tourism, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. They include workers in the cruise, airline, restaurants, hotels, theme parks and attractions industries.

Another 400,000 jobs are indirectly related to tourism.

By comparison, manufacturing only made up 479,500 jobs in August 2001; financial institutions and real-estate accounted for 456,000 jobs and construction created 404,900 jobs.

"We know that the tourism and travel industry has always been our bread and butter and we recognize that," said Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood. "We know that if we depend solely on the service sector, those jobs have historically been lower-paying and those jobs fluctuate a great deal when there is some kind of economic crisis. We're certainly seeing that now."

Common wisdom in the tourism industry held that tourism was almost recession-proof since people take vacations in good times or bad. But no one counted on the airline industry, which delivers more than half of Florida's visitors, having near-empty planes following the attacks carried out with hijacked jetliners.

Travelers were also shaken by the government's grounding of all U.S. air traffic for two days after the attacks.

"Never before have the airlines stopped flying," said Jose Estorino, senior vice president of marketing for the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "All of the sudden, people couldn't get in and people couldn't get out."

Farming history

For much of Florida's history, agriculture was the state's dominant force due to its citrus groves and cattle ranches. Tourism gradually began overtaking agriculture after World War II, thanks to air conditioning, automobiles and airplanes, said Abe Pizam, a professor of hospitality management at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Manufacturing never took hold because of Florida's distance from population centers and a lack of infrastructure at the early part of the century. The state also lacked mineral resources such as steel and coal.

Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven was Florida's first commercial attraction when it opened in 1936. Disney followed more than three decades later, bringing with it a huge jump in the number of visitors to Florida. Last year, an estimated 71.4 million tourists visited the state.

For the past 20 years, economic development officials in Florida have tried to attract high-tech jobs to the state with modest success, although central Florida has a sizable defense and space industry.

"Florida was a Johnny-come-lately," Pizam said. "By the time Florida woke up and said 'Let's do something about diversification,' it was too late. California, the Northwest, New England and Texas had already attracted high-tech companies."

Florida relies more heavily on tourism than other states like California, which have other industries, such as high-tech, entertainment and defense.

But Florida's dependence on tourism isn't necessarily a bad thing, said University of Florida economist David Lenze.

"It's important to recognize where your competitive advantage lies," Lenze said. "When things go bad, don't throw up your hands and change things. Just remember how good they were a year ago."