The Case for Better Key West Travel, Not Just More | Live From IPW 2026

Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Visit Florida Keys and Key West president and CEO Kara Franker sits down with Afar editorial director Billie Cohen for one of our most candid travel industry interviews yet: a look at what smarter Key West travel looks like when a tiny string of islands is breaking visitor records.

Kara arrived about a year and a half ago from Visit Estes in Colorado, bringing a mix of legal, marketing, and journalism experience. She inherited an organization that needed rebuilding, and a destination wrestling with a very specific challenge: huge demand, a fragile environment, and a beloved story to protect.

In this conversation, Kara and Billie discuss:

Why Key West travel is at a record high, with more arrivals at Key West International Airport in 2025 than ever before

How Kara rebuilt the organization from 12 staff to 30, brought agencies in house, and recruited talent from outside tourism, including a VP who spent decades at Cisco

The shift from broadcast spray and play to targeted marketing, and the industry debate over better tourism versus more tourism

Why protecting the coral reef is a business strategy, not just an environmental one, and how it shielded Key West during Hurricane Irma

What it means to court the highest average daily rate in the country while asking visitors to treat the reef, the key deer, and the locals with respect

How tourism development taxes are funding capital projects, from a refresh of Mallory Square to a new artificial reef in the Lower Keys

This is one in a series of travel industry interviews and tourism experts interviews recorded live at IPW 2026, part of View From Afar's ongoing look at travel trends 2026, sustainable tourism, and the destination management challenges facing fragile places. For an honest take on Key West travel and the future of the wider Keys, it is a front-row conversation with one of the hospitality industry leaders shaping what comes next.

Resources

– Visit Florida Keys website