Florida continues to break tourism records
Saturday, 22 Nov, 2016
0
Travelers’ appetite for Florida is still as strong as ever despite the ongoing spread of the Zika virus and a tragic shooting spree in an Orlando night club.
Officials said 26.9 million people traveled to Florida between July and September, up 5.1% on a year ago.
The Sunshine State also faced challenges with two major hurricanes in recent months while the number of confirmed Zika cases continues to grow.
"Visit Florida does an incredible job of marketing our state and keeping all of our tourism partners, which include both large and small businesses, updated on how to keep our visitors informed when our state faces challenges like the Zika virus, hurricanes and the terrorist attack at Pulse nightclub," Governor Rick Scott said in a statement.
Preliminary data indicates 85.5 million have visited the state in the first nine months of 2016 and Scott has targeted 115 million for the full year.
This is the ‘highest amount of visitors in any nine months in the state’s history’ the governor’s office said.
The governor urged for no let up in tourism funding.
"Since I have been in office, we have more than doubled the funding for Visit Florida and these investments have helped bring more tourists to Florida and add more jobs for families in our state. We need to continue investing in our tourism industry so we can keep breaking records and add even more jobs," Scott said.
Will Seccombe, president of Visit Florida said: "It also shows that we will have to work even harder as a state and an industry to maintain that growth going forward."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Clearing CSS/JS assets' cache... Please wait until this notice disappears...
Updating... Please wait...
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
TAP Air Portugal to operate 29 flights due to strike on December 11
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Air Mauritius reduces frequencies to Europe and Asia for the holiday season
Airbnb eyes a loyalty program but details remain under wraps