Florida Tourism On Pace For Another Record Year

Coming off a record-setting second quarter both overall and from Canada, Florida tourism is on pace for yet another record year.

According to Visit Florida preliminary estimates, 24 million visitors went to the Sunshine State in the second quarter of 2014 (April-June), an increase of 3% over the same period in 2013. This represents the largest second quarter for visitation Florida has ever experienced, exceeding the previous high of 23.3 million in Q2 2013.

Visit Florida estimates that 2.8 million overseas visitors and one million Canadians came to Florida in Q2 2014, both of which are record highs and represent 6.2% and 1.6% increases over Q2 2013, respectively.

Visitor spending is up 7.4% January through May at $35.7 billion, which is more than the same time period in 2013.

Florida Governor Rick Scott commented, “A thriving tourism industry is vital to growing jobs, and today’s report that Florida has experienced another record quarter for visitation is great news for Florida families. This year we invested $74 million into Visit Florida, and set a goal to have 100 million visitors visit the Sunshine State, which we are well on our way to reaching. Together we are creating an opportunity economy, and continuing to grow more jobs for Floridians with more than 1.1 million individuals employed in the growing tourism industry.”

Visit Florida president Will Seccombe added, “Florida tourism is maintaining strong momentum with all indicators up across the board for the quarter. With occupancy, rooms sold, average daily room rate and tourism and recreation taxable sales all continuing to climb, we are well on our way to making Florida the No. 1 travel destination in the world.”