Florida sees 54 million visitors!!!
The Sunshine State welcomed a record setting 54.1 million visitors between January and June, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism authority.
That’s the most visitors to ever come to Florida during the first half of a year, said Gov. Rick Scott in a news release.
“We are excited to mark the first half of 2015 with our biggest second quarter ever,” said Scott. “And we look forward to exceeding our goal of 100 million visitors to Florida this year.”
About 25.8 million visitors came to Florida during the second quarter of the year, and increase of 5.5 percent compared with last year’s second quarter.
Visit Florida estimated that 2.7 million overseas visitors and 1.2 million Canadians came to Florida from April to June. Estimates of 21.9 million domestic travelers during the second quarter reflect a 6.8 percent year-over-year increase in domestic travel, according to the release.
“The continued growth of tourism in the second quarter, including a record number of tourism-related jobs, puts Florida of pace for a fifth consecutive record-breaking year,” said John Tomlin, chair of the Visit Florida board of directors.
Florida recorded nearly 99 million visitors in 2014. Orlando accounted for 62 million visitors last year.