Florida tourism today announced the strongest international visitation numbers the state has seen since 2019.
According to new estimates from VISIT FLORIDA, international visitors have dramatically increased travel to the Sunshine state. The first half of this year saw massive increases in overseas (+21.8%) and Canadian (+81.1%) visitation compared to the same time period in 2022.
Florida welcomed a total of 33.1 million visitors between April and June 2023, with 1.9 million of those being overseas visitors and 846,000 Canadian visitors.
Florida also continues to beat records with annual visitation with 70.8 million visitors in calendar year 2023.
“VISIT FLORIDA has been laser-focused on building our key international markets and ensuring the return of international visitors to Florida and that work has paid off,” said Dana Young, VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO. “While other states have finally opened their doors to domestic visitors and created more competition, Florida is again leading in international visitors. Florida has the largest share of international visitors ahead of New York and California and we lead the nation in overseas arrival recovery compared to 2019.”
Cedar Key, Florida at sunrise. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Here’s a story I wrote about the marvelous town of Cedar Key, Florida a couple years ago, and one about the Palm Beaches. Also, here’s one about delightful Dunedin, spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays.
FLORIDA TOURISM HIGHLIGHTS
- For the first two quarters of 2023, Florida saw massive increases in overseas and Canadian visitation, up 21.8 percent and 81.1 percent respectively. Domestic visitation saw a small drop of 1.1% during the same period.
- Total visitation for 2023 reached 70.8 million, an increase of 1.3 percent over the first six months of 2022 and 4.5 percent above 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
- For Q2 2023, Florida still saw significant quarterly increases with overseas visitation up 11 percent and Canadian visitation up 20.8 percent over Q2 2022. Domestic visitation was 4.6 percent above Q2 2019.
- Preliminary estimates indicate that 33.1 million total visitors traveled to Florida in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 2.6 percent from Q2 2019.
- Q2 2023 visitation is estimated at 30.3 million domestic visitors, 1.9 million international visitors, and 846,000 Canadian visitors.
- Domestic visitors accounted for 91.6 percent of visitors in Q2 2023, while overseas visitors were 5.9 percent and Canadian visitors were 2.6 percent.
- Preliminary data shows that for the second year in a row, Florida leads the nation with largest market share of overseas visitors in 2022, which is only the second time ever that any state has had a larger share than New York.
Additionally, Florida is leading the nation in recovering the number of overseas travelers that visit Florida post pandemic with an 80% recovery rate in comparison to 2019 numbers, while New York follows behind at 75% and California at 68%. The national rate for overseas arrival also trails Florida at 73%.
