The WPJ
Vacation Real Estate News
Florida Had 80.3 Million Tourist Visits in 2009
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) -- According to Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing corporation, Florida had an estimated 80.3 million visitors come to Florida in 2009. Compared to Florida's 2008 tourism stats, this represents a slight decrease of 0.8 percent.
"The preliminary estimates continue to reflect that 2009 was a very challenging year for the Florida tourism industry, visits from domestic travelers, international travelers and Canadian travelers as well as in-state travel by Floridians were all down for the year, " said Christopher L. Thompson, Visit Florida's President and CEO. "Given the economic volatility and consumer uncertainty that marked 2009, the Sunshine State held up extraordinarily well with total visitation to the state down less than 1 percent from 2008."
Preliminary estimates of visitors to Florida for the fourth quarter of 2009 (October-December), show an estimated 18.1 million people visited the Sunshine State. This reflects a visitor decrease of 3.4 percent.
"The good news is that total visitation was relatively steady and more than 80 million travelers chose Florida as their destination last year," said Will Seccombe, Visit Florida's Chief Marketing Officer. "The challenge is that we have increased competition as a destination and travelers are spending less."
Visit Florida also reports that more than 4,034,000 residents took a pleasure trip in the fourth quarter of 2009 and in-state trips decreased by 1.8 percent in 2009 overall.
Preliminary data collected at 14 of Florida's major airports shows a 0.6 percent decrease in total enplanements to Florida for the fourth quarter and a decrease of 5.1 percent for 2009.
During the fourth quarter of 2009, overseas travel to Florida decreased by 6.3 percent and overseas visitation for the 2009 calendar year decreased by 4.3 percent. Canadian travel to Florida during the fourth quarter shows a 10.3 percent increase. Canadian travel to Florida decreased by 6.4 percent overall in 2009.
Real Estate Listings Showcase
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Read More