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Governor Charlie Crist is shaking off news that tourism in Florida was off seven percent in 2008.

Last year marked the first time in seven years the number of visitors has fallen. Crist says he sees good news among the bad.

“Some encouraging news in that stat, that I saw too, is that I think we’re getting about 14 percent more tourists from Canada now, so more foreign visitors are coming to the state. That’s good,” Crist said. “The other thing is, encourage Floridians to travel in Florida. I think that was up about 22 percent, in-state travel. There’s so many different parts of the state to visit and go to and you help Florida businesses. That’s a great thing to do.”