Domestic travel is up. But Canadian visits to Florida are still lagging slightly, new figures show.
Florida tourism reps say 31.5 million domestic travelers visited the Sunshine State in the second quarter of 2024. That’s up 1.8% from the same period in 2023, and 8.7% higher than in 2019, the last full year before COVID-19.
But CBS News reports Canadian and international visits are still down slightly from a few years ago.
VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s tourism-marketing agency, said there were 2.44 million overseas visitors in the second quarter of 2019, with 848,000 Canadians.
In the second quarter of last year, the state reported 1.94 million overseas travelers and 767,000 Canadians.
For the period from April to June of this year, the state logged 2 million overseas travelers, an increase from last year. But there were 739,000 visitors from Canada; down slightly from last year.
Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach, Florida. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Overall, it’s encouraging news for the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed the numbers as the “greatest second-quarter tourism numbers in Florida history.”
“Moving forward, we will continue to leverage our strengths to ensure that Florida remains the top destination for travelers worldwide,” Visit Florida President & CEO Dana Young said in a press release.
Porter Airlines president Kevin Jackson recently told Open Jaw Network that Porter will more than double its air lift to Florida from Eastern Canada for this coming winter. That likely will lead to bigger and better Canadian traveler numbers.
Porter flies to Orlando, Miami, Tampa and several other Florida cities. It operates flights to various Florida destinations from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax on new Embraer jets with free drinks and no middle seats.
Here’s a link to my one of recent Florida stories, a piece about Fort Myers.
