Florida saw record high tourism in 2018 with more than 126 million visitors, up more than 6 percent from the year before.
On Wednesday, Visit Florida announced that 126.1 million out of state guests hit Florida in 2018, up from almost 119 million in 2017.
Former state Sen. Dana Young, the new president and CEO of Visit Florida, weighed in on the numbers on Wednesday afternoon.
“Visit Florida is known across the world for delivering innovative destination marketing to ensure that we are reaching the right people with the right message,” Young said. “With today’s announcement of an eighth consecutive record-breaking year, it’s clear that by focusing on value and data-driven campaigns, Visit Florida and the tourism industry have achieved unprecedented success. We appreciate Governor DeSantis for his support of our organization and Florida’s entire tourism industry. Working together, we will continue to deliver results to Florida taxpayers who rely on Visit Florida to protect and enhance our iconic tourism industry.”
Visit Florida estimated that “10.8 million overseas visitors and 3.5 million Canadians came to the Sunshine State last year” helped by almost 94 million visitors arriving by airplane.
The Sunshine State also saw more than 30 million visitors in the final three months of 2018.
“Visit Florida estimates that a record 30.3 million visitors traveled to Florida in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of 4.6 percent over the same period last year. This Q4 number breaks down to 26.8 million domestic visitors, 2.9 million overseas visitors and 688,000 Canadian visitors. Total enplanements at Florida’s 18 major airports in Q4 2018 increased 6.6 percent over the same period the previous year, with 23.3 million passengers. Florida’s average daily room rate (ADR) during this quarter increased by 2.7 percent,” Visit Florida noted.
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