Florida posts another first quarter tourism record
Florida kicked off 2018 with another record-high quarter for visitor arrivals.
Gov. Rick Scott revealed an impressive 33.2 million tourists visited the Sunshine State in the January-March period, which is a rise of 7.4% on last year.
"This historic tourism number demonstrates the momentum that our state has built. Since December 2010, Florida has created more than 1.5 million jobs, and a large part of this growth is because of the incredible success of our state’s tourism industry," Scott said.
Florida saw increases in both domestic and overseas markets.
The 29.1 million domestic visitors represented year-over-year growth of 8.5% while visitation from key market Canada was also up.
"This record setting quarter of 33.2 million visitors to our state, the largest quarter in our state’s history, shows that Visit Florida is marketing our state like never before," said ken Lawson CEO of marketing agency Visit Florida.
"We will continue developing more innovative and cutting-edge marketing programs to build on this success across the country and across the world."
The record figures were aided by added air capacity with Florida’s 18 major airports handling 7.6% more passengers than a year ago.
There was also Q1 2018 growth recorded in hotel rooms sold and hotel occupancy rates across the state.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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