Florida tourism on track for record year
Florida is set for a record breaking year of tourist visits after releasing preliminary figures showing best-ever second quarter visitation.
Visit Florida estimated 24 million tourists came to the state during the second quarter surpassing the previous record of 23.3 million in 2013.
The agency also said visitor spending rose 7.4% to $35.7 billion.
Direct tourism-related jobs also beat the previous record last quarter with an average 1,151,400 Floridians employed in the tourism industry.
"This year we invested $74 million into Visit Florida, and set a goal to have 100 million visitors in the Sunshine State, which we are well on our way to reaching," said Gov. Rick Scott.
"Together we are creating an opportunity economy, and continuing to grow more jobs for Floridians with more than 1.1 million individuals employed in the growing tourism industry."
Estimates for overseas visitors also projected record numbers.
Visit Florida officials said around 2.8 million foreign visitors and over one million Canadians came to Florida in 2Q.
In 2013 almost 95 million came to the Sunshine State and Gov. Scott hopes to surpass 100 million this year despite no increase in the Visit Florida marketing budget.
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