Visit Orlando announced a record-breaking 74 million annual visitors in 2022. With a 25% increase in visitors over 2021, Orlando maintains its leadership position as America’s most-visited destination. By reaching 74 million visitors in 2022, Orlando achieved 98% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels, according to officials.
“This past year proved to be a key recovery timeframe for Orlando’s tourism industry, with a lot of pent-up demand from our top U.S. and international markets,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando. “Our new international brand launch and strong commitment to strategic sales and marketing initiatives, combined with our destination’s continuous evolution of new unbelievably real experiences, helped Orlando maintain its leadership position and achieve strong visitation numbers.”
Visit Orlando shared the news as part of National Travel & Tourism Week, the annual celebration of the contributions of the U.S. travel industry, to a gathering of over 900 tourism and community leaders. During this week, communities across the region and nation celebrate and recognize the contributions made by economic developers and the travel industry to stimulate economic growth, cultivate vibrant communities, create quality job opportunities, inspire new businesses, and elevate the quality of life for all.
In Orlando, the travel and tourism industry supports 31% of the workforce, over 392,000 jobs, generates $67.1 billion in economic impact and provides $5.3 billion in local and state tax revenue.
“Orlando’s tourism industry is essential to Central Florida’s economy, creating jobs and strengthening our community’s culture and identity,” added Matej. “Because of tourism, each Orlando household saves $6,412 in annual taxes. The revenue from tourism enhances the quality of life for residents and helps pay for critical services residents rely on such as such as education, public safety and infrastructure.”
The visitation uptick comes off the back of Visit Orlando’s new Unbelievably Real brand launch, first introduced in May 2022 to domestic visitors followed by an international marketing campaign in the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru. The comprehensive campaigns reached 54% of Orlando’s target market households and generated more than $8 billion in additional future direct visitor spending equating to $359 in visitor spending for each dollar of media spent.
In 2022, domestic leisure visitation completely recovered and reached a new record at 61 million, while U.S. business visitation is still in recovery mode:
- United States: 69,141,000 (21% increase YoY)
- Leisure: 61,201,000
- Business: 7,940,000
International visitation recovered to 75% of pre-pandemic, reaching 4.9 million in 2022. Canada, U.K. and Brazil were the top three international origin markets to Orlando:
- Canada: 860,700
- United Kingdom: 809,000
- Brazil: 575,000
- Mexico: 394,000
- Colombia: 287,000
Visit Orlando is The Official Tourism Association for Orlando, the most visited destination in the United States, Theme Park Capital of the World® and No. 1 meeting destination in the country. A not-for-profit trade association that brands, markets and sells the Orlando destination globally, Visit Orlando represents more than 1,300 member companies comprising every segment of Central Florida’s tourism community.
Visit Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis also recently announced Florida saw the largest volume of visitors ever recorded in a single quarter between January and March of this year.
