VIDEO: State of Florida Eclipses All-Time Record High For Tourism, ‘Most Visitors History’

By  //  August 15, 2016

ABOVE VIDEO: Cocoa Beach is the heart of the Space Coast beach scene. The Pier and all the surrounding shops and restaurants make for an ideal Florida Beach Town. Home of some of the largest names in surfing, Cocoa Beach always provides some great wave action.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Governor Rick Scott recently announced Florida 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.

This record amount represents a 4.3 percent increase over the year.

In the second quarter of 2016, 27.3 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 3.1 percent over the year.

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 percent over the year.

Rick Scott
Rick Scott

“Today, I am proud to announce that Florida has continued our record breaking success and welcomed the most visitors in Florida’s history over the first six months of the year. It’s exciting that we are starting the first half of 2016 off with back to back record quarters which puts us on pace to reach our goal of 115 million tourists this year and $100 billion in visitor spending by 2020,” said Governor Rick Scott.

“In Florida, the health and safety of our visitors is a top priority and we look forward to welcoming even more visitors to the Sunshine State this year.”

VISIT FLORIDA estimates that 23.6 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida in the second quarter of 2016, which is a 4.6 percent increase over the same period last year.

Will Seccombe
Will Seccombe

“The Florida tourism industry has a tremendous amount of momentum because every month we have millions of new visitors who are experiencing the best tourism product on earth and returning home to share their Florida memories with friends and family,” said Will Seccombe, President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA.

Tourism and recreation taxable sales for Florida increased 6.1 percent year over year for January through April 2016 (last reported month).

For quarter two of 2016, the average daily room rate (ADR) rose 1.4 percent and the demand in rooms sold grew 1.1 percent.

William D. Talbert, III, CDME, Chair of the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors said “The success of Florida tourism is directly attributable to the strong alignment between VISIT FLORIDA and our tourism industry partners, and their continued investment in strengthening the state’s incredible tourism product.”

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