Florida Sets Tourism Record With 85 Million Visitors

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Concerns that the Zika virus and this summer’s terrorist attack in Orlando might keep tourists away from Florida appear to have been debunked. Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday that the Sunshine State’s tourism numbers have set a record with an estimated 85 million people visiting in the first nine months of the year.

That particular number is “the highest amount of visitors in any nine months in the state’s history,” Scott’s office announced. The figure adds up to a 5.5 percent increase in visitors over the year. Between July and September, the state says 26.9 million visitors paid Florida a visit, which represents a 5.1 percent increase over the year.

That third quarter 2016 number of 26.9 million is especially telling in regard to the resiliency of Florida’s tourism industry. The Zika virus first cropped up in the state in the first quarter of the year, but became a serious concern for the tourism industry in August when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning for the Miami-Dade County area. It was on June 12 (just before the third quarter began) when Omar Mateen, 29, walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando and gunned down 49 people and wounded 53 others before he, too, was shot and killed by law enforcement. The attack is considered the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history and was classified as an act of terror by the federal government.

See also: Florida Zika Virus Travel Warning Could Last a Year, CDC Chief Says

The Orlando area was dealt another blow a few days after Mateen’s attack on the Pulse nightclub. The second hit involved the alligator-related death of a 2-year-old boy at the Walt Disney Resort. The toddler’s death made international news and led to some changes at the world-famous resort.

Following the Orlando-area incidents, Abraham Pizam, dean of University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, told Florida Today a short-term negative impact on tourism was likely. The dip, he expected, would most likely involve international tourists rather than travelers who might more readily sympathize with Orlando’s plight, he said. The state’s figures released Monday support Pizam’s post-attack prognostications.

In the third quarter of 2016, the state estimates 23.6 million of its visitors came from within the country. This is an increase of 5.8 percent over last year’s number for the same period. About 2.8 million overseas visitors came to Florida in the third quarter, representing a modest increase of 0.9 percent, tracking with Pizam's projection.

See also: Could Orlando Tragedies Hurt Florida's Tourism?

In announcing the record-breaking numbers, Scott acknowledged the challenges Florida has faced in the past year. He also credited Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing arm, for helping overcome those challenges.

“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,” Scott said. “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.”

The state reported that 1.2 million Floridians are currently employed in the tourism industry. The projected year-end number of tourists is on track to reach 115 million, Scott said.

“Today’s announcement shows that the Florida tourism industry has done a tremendous job marketing the state both domestically and internationally during very challenging times,” Will Seccombe, president of Visit Florida said in a statement. “It also shows that we will have to work even harder as a state and an industry to maintain that growth going forward.”

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