Florida Logs 60 Million Tourists in the First Half of 2017

About 60. 7 million tourists visited Florida in the first half of 2017 marking a huge surge in tourism.

A four percent increase that was spurred predominately from American travelers compared to the same time period in 2016, the latest figures show positive and inspiring result of the tourism board.

Gov. Rick Scott unveiled the latest numbers, calling them an all-time record for a six-month period, during a press conference in Tampa.

“I am proud to announce today that Florida has continued its record breaking success,” Scott said in a statement. “This means back-to-back record quarters for our state.”

In 2016, Florida recorded about 112 million visitors.

“This is an exciting and historic time for the Florida tourism industry,” said Ken Lawson, CEO and president of Visit Florida, the state’s tourism promotion agency.

“It’s great to see another record visitation number on the state level, and Orlando continues to play a leading role in supporting that growth,” Visit Orlando said in a statement.

The latest figures do not come as a surprise as Florida’s tourism numbers have steadily grown over the years – thanks to the new tourist attractions and the Universal Studios’ Volanco Bay water park. This, however, also calls for the risk of over tourism in future like that in Venice.

As more people visit Florida, theme parks have rolled out blackout dates or increased prices to combat high crowds, he pointed out.

It becomes important to promote sports tourism or nature sites, especially in Orlando, said Wang, calling it essential to diversify the tourism industry.

There was a certain sense of anxiety following the President Donald Trump’s election and travel ban order. The international visitors are coveted in the tourism industry because they typically stay longer and spend more than domestic travelers.