Visit Florida is to spend $1 million in these source markets by the end of June 2020.

“Winter is a key period for us and you’ll see lots of exciting activity including train station advertising, TV advertising and digital promotions,” said Dana Young, president and CEO of the organisation.

Giving UK holidaymakers reasons to revisit Florida for a second or third time was key to boosting numbers, she added.

“The UK might think they’ve seen Florida, but if you’ve only seen Miami and Orlando then there is so much more depth and diversity still to discover in the state,” she said.

Travel agents in the UK play a key role in encouraging their clients to come back to Florida and explore something new, she added.

Around 1.5 million travellers from the UK and Ireland visited Florida last year, making it the state’s top long-haul international source market.

Overall, Florida received 127 million domestic and international arrivals last year, marking eight years of record growth.

“In the first six months of this year we’ve already welcomed 70 million visitors, so if we stay on track, it’s going to be a very, very positive result,” she said.

Visit Florida launched a raft of new digital tools at WTM London, including accessible travel and sustainable travel hubs on its website, a day-trip and craft beverage trail “finder”, and virtual reality content.

Young added that while the demise of Thomas Cook had been very sad, she was pleased to see other tour operators already filling the gaps in terms of capacity.

“One of the positive things to come out of it is travellers realising the importance of booking with a tour operator and of buying good travel insurance well ahead of your trip,” she added.