The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau

What The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau does

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is the official destination marketing organization for Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County, Florida, operating as a government entity under Broward County Government since 1987. Marketed under the consumer-facing brand "Visit Lauderdale," the CVB promotes the destination to leisure tourists, meeting and event planners, and coordinates with local tourism businesses including hotels, restaurants, attractions, and convention facilities. Its primary product is the Visit Lauderdale website (visitlauderdale.com), a comprehensive trip-planning platform that aggregates destination content, event listings, hotel and restaurant information, and booking facilitation. Supporting product features include a live streaming beach cam, the Ale Trail Passport craft brewery program, the Insider's Guide editorial blog, a Deals & Offers promotional platform, and an email newsletter. The CVB also operates a dedicated Meetings & Groups sales division focused on driving convention and corporate event business to the Broward County Convention Center.

The organization's business model is non-commercial in structure: as a public quasi-governmental entity, it does not sell products or services to end customers and does not generate revenue in the traditional sense. Funding flows from tourism assessment fees (bed tax) and Broward County government appropriations, with the CVB reinvesting these funds into destination marketing, content production, event activation, and partnership development. Strategic partners include Broward County Government, the Florida Panthers and Amerant Bank Arena (for event co-marketing including FIFA World Cup 2026 watch parties), Signature Travel Network (travel agency distribution), and Brand USA / Visit The USA (international inbound tourism marketing). The GTM motion is event-driven and digitally anchored, relying on content marketing, social media (#VisitLauderdale), email, live camera content, and major event partnerships to attract visitors. There is no disclosed AI/ML technology stack, no mobile app, and no commercial product API.

Name

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau

Legal name

Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau

Website

https://sunny.org

Company type

Public

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau is a government-run destination marketing organization under Broward County Government that promotes Greater Fort Lauderdale to leisure tourists and meeting planners via the Visit Lauderdale website, live beach cam, editorial content, and event partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Services

NAICS

Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591)

SIC

Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)

akta.pro primary industry

Convention Campus & District Operators (Integrated Venue Districts) (THAHAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Convention & Exhibition Centers (Public Convention Centers, Civic Centers) (THAHAAAA)

Keywords

• Destination marketing services
• Convention and visitor bureau
• Tourism promotion
• Meeting planning services
• Travel information platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Lauderdale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (DBA "Visit Lauderdale") is the official destination marketing organization for Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County, Florida. It promotes the region as a leisure and convention destination through the Visit Lauderdale website, providing trip planning tools, hotel and attraction listings, event calendars, a live beach cam, an Ale Trail craft beer passport, editorial blog content (Insider's Guide), deals/offer portal, and a dedicated Meetings & Groups division supporting convention and event business at the Broward County Convention Center.

Product overview

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau operates the Visit Lauderdale Website as its primary digital platform—a comprehensive destination marketing and travel planning portal. The offering integrates multiple complementary features including the Live Beach Cam for real-time beach monitoring, the Ale Trail Passport for craft beer tourism, the Insider's Guide Blog for editorial content, Meetings & Groups Services for convention planning, and Deals & Offers for promotional content. These products collectively serve leisure travelers, group planners, and meeting professionals seeking information and services related to Greater Fort Lauderdale tourism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Visit Lauderdale Website

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Broward County GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe CVB operates in partnership with Broward County Government to promote tourism and the Broward County Convention Center. The organization is part of Broward County Government structure.
• Florida PanthersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Florida Panthers NHL team to host free World Cup watch parties at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, bringing international soccer events to Greater Fort Lauderdale.
• Amerant Bank ArenamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenue partner for World Cup watch parties, hosting events for residents and visitors during major soccer tournaments.
• Signature Travel NetworkminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTravel network partner for distribution of Greater Fort Lauderdale destination information to their member travel agencies.
• Visit The USA (Brand USA)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerInternational tourism marketing partnership promoting the USA as a destination, including Greater Fort Lauderdale in global marketing efforts.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Visit Tampa Bay: Florida DMO for the Tampa Bay region. Comparable CVB mandate (leisure + meetings), shared Florida tourism funding model, and competing for similar visitor demographics.
• Visit Orlando: DMO / Convention & Visitors Bureau for the Orlando region in Florida. Same DMO/CVB mandate, similar leisure + meetings structure, and direct competitor for Florida tourism share.
• Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA): Destination marketing authority combining leisure promotion and convention-center operations. Highly comparable CVB/DMO model with a strong meetings-and-groups division.
• Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Visit Miami): DMO for Greater Miami and the Beaches, located within the same South Florida geography. Most direct head-to-head competitor for both leisure visitation and convention bookings.

Others

• Simpleview: Primary CRM and website-platform vendor used by hundreds of US DMOs and CVBs, including Visit Lauderdale (assets are served from simpleviewinc.com). Ecosystem supplier rather than competitor.
• Brand USA: National destination-marketing organization for the United States. The Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB is an active co-marketing partner through Brand USA, making it a peer in international tourism promotion rather than a competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Visit Florida: State-level tourism marketing corporation for the State of Florida. Operates one tier above county-level CVBs, setting statewide brand strategy and international marketing that county CVBs plug into.

Regional players

• NYC & Company: Official DMO for New York City. Comparable CVB/DMO mandate and product mix (website, blog, deals, meetings) but serving a very different urban destination.
• Choose Chicago: Official DMO for Chicago. Similar CVB structure (leisure + meetings + content hub), competing in the same national convention-bid pool though in a different geography.
• Visit San Diego: DMO for San Diego with a comparable CVB mandate (beach/leisure plus convention sales). Different geography but a directly comparable operating model for a coastal destination.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/visitlauderdale
• Facebookfacebook.com/visitlauderdale
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gflcvb

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau