Florida Hits Record High for Tourism
Despite a slight dip in numbers from Canada, the Sunshine State has set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any six months in the state’s history with 57.4 million visitors, a 4.3% increase over the previous year.
In the second quarter of 2016 (April-June), 27.3 million visitors came to Florida, an increase of 3.1% over the same period in 2015. The average number of direct travel-related jobs in quarter two of 2016 was also a record high, with 1,255,200 Floridians employed in the tourism industry – up 4.3% year over year.
VISIT FLORIDA estimates that 23.6 million domestic visitors travelled to Florida in the second quarter of 2016, reflecting a 4.6% increase over the same period last year. Estimates also show that 2.6 million overseas visitors and 1.1 million Canadians came to Florida in quarter two of 2016, reflecting 5.5% and 5.1% decreases respectively over the same period last year. Preliminary figures for the first half of 2016 show 49.4 million domestic visitors (up 6%), 5.3 million overseas visitors (down 5.6%) and 2.7 million Canadians (down 3.5%) have come to the Sunshine State.
