Metro Orlando has become the first US travel destination to draw more than 50 million visitors in a single year.
With a record-breaking tally of 51.5 million visitors in 2010, Orlando beat out New York City which announced its own goal was to break the 50 million mark. New York last year hosted 48.7 million visitors, which made it the only other US city to approach the 50 million milestone.
The two cities had a sort of informal rivalry early last year when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his city had surpassed Orlando as the nation’s most visited city.
“Media from the New York area called Orlando’s marketing agency to see what it thought of coming in second,” recalled The Orlando Sentinel.
But the initial numbers were wrong and Orlando later reported its visitor count was more than New York.
Both cities have different ways of counting visitors. But both also in public at least praise others.
“It’s good for the entire travel industry,” said George Fertitta, chief executive officer of NYC & Company, New York’s destination marketing organization.
By David Wilkening
