Record 54.1 million tourists descend on Florida

That represents increases of 6.7 percent, 1.7 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

VISIT FLORIDA estimates that 2.7 million overseas visitors and 1.2 million Canadians came to Florida in quarter two of 2015.

In the state for the second quarter, Visit Florida estimated 2.7 million of the visitors came from overseas and 1.2 million tourists came from Canada.

During what one attendee of an Enterprise Florida meeting Thursday in Ponte Vedra Beach described as a political rally, Scott said the state has just $9 million remaining for this year’s recruitment efforts.

“We are excited to mark the first half of 2015 with our biggest second quarter ever, and we look forward to exceeding our goal of 100 million visitors to Florida this year”, Scott said.

Florida drew 25.8 million visitors in the second quarter, 5.5 percent more than the same period past year.

– Scott sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in an attempt to force the agency to allow state inspectors examine records at Florida VA hospitals.

“These records also emphasize the power of tourism as an economic leader and job creator for the state”.

The tourism boom has also resulted in more revenue for the state government, with a 9 percent increase in tourism and recreation taxable sales during the first five months of 2015 from the same period in 2014. “This continued growth does not happen by accident”. The airport is on pace to host more than 43 million passengers this year.

Hillsborough County is sharing in the celebration, said Santiago Corrada, president and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay. He eventually criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its slow response and said the state would act on its own to prepare in case the disease turned up in Florida. The public-private partnership is Governor Rick Scott’s main tool for achieving his overriding goal for the state: create new jobs.

“As we continue to shatter industry records and make the Sunshine State the gold standard for tourism across the country and around the world, we are grateful for the hard work of our industry partners and the support of Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature”.

Officials from all three counties said the record numbers are more impressive because they exceed records set a year ago.

For the first quarter alone, officials with Visit Jacksonville reported that year-over-year tourism has increased for 17 straight months, citing Smith Travel Research’s tracking of hoteliers and trends. You can view the Terms of Use on our website.