Florida set to pass 100 million visitors in 2015
Florida has raised the bar every year over the last four years and Governor Rick Scott announced today that a record 54.1 million visitors came to Florida in the first half of this 2015.
The record amount of visitors represents a 5.8 percent increase over 2014. In the second quarter of 2015, 25.8 million visitors came to the state, a 5.5 percent increase over last year, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism agency.
The agency also reported that while they expect Florida to surpass the 100 million visitors in 2015, that number has already been achieved in June this year for the twelve months dating back to June 2014. It seems that visitors are keen to enjoy the warm Sunshine State weather, the 825 miles of beaches, the numerous attraction parks and the natural environment that Florida has to offer.
“I am proud to announce the Sunshine State continued our record-breaking success and welcomed the most visitors in Florida’s history over the first half of the year,” Scott said in a press release. “Our growing tourism industry employs over 1.2 million Floridians and is helping us meet our goal of becoming the best place in the world for jobs.”
Visit Florida estimates that 2.7 million overseas visitors and 1.2 million Canadians came to Florida in the second quarter of this year. Estimates also show that 21.9 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida between April and June, reflecting a 6.8 percent increase year over year.
“The continued growth of tourism for the second quarter, including a record number of tourism-related jobs, puts Florida on pace for a fifth consecutive record-breaking year,” said John Tomlin, chair of the Visit Florida board of directors. “These records also emphasize the power of tourism as an economic leader and job creator for the state.”
“This kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident,” said Will Seccombe, president and CEO of Visit Florida. “We know tourism marketing works and we have Gov. Scott and the Florida Legislature to thank for their unparalleled support that has put us well on our way to making Florida the No. 1 travel destination in the world.”
At the 2015 Florida Governor’s Conference held in Tampa, Visit Florida also announced that by 2020 the bureau’s mission is to raise overall visitor spending in the state to $100 billion annually. $18 billion more than the spending recorded in 2014 and good news for jobs as 85 visitors to the state equals 1 job according to Governor Scott. Further, the Governor isn’t content to rest there as he has set a new vision for 120 million visitors to Florida in the near future and with that, an extra 300,000 new jobs would be created.
In order to do that, Visit Florida will try to close the gaps between Florida’s traditional high tourism seasons and focus on promoting the “off seasons” more prominently.
Exciting time are ahead for Florida….
More photos from 2015 Florida Governor’s Conference at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com
