Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation estimates that 85.9 million visitors came to Florida in 2011, an increase of 4.4% over 2010.
The tourism organization says the numbers represent a record year for visitation to Florida, exceeding the previous high of 84.5 million in 2007.
Estimates for 2011 show a 3% percent increase in domestic visitors to Florida, a 5.7% increase in Canadian visitors and a 16.1% increase in overseas visitors. For 2011, 21.5 million Floridians took an in-state pleasure trip, an increase of 12.5 percentage points. These increases represent record highs for overseas, Canadian and in-state visitation to Florida, per Visit Florida.
Primary data collected at Florida’s 14 major airports in 2011 reflects an 11.9% increase in total enplanements from 2010. Tourism/recreation taxable sales for Florida increased every month year-over-year from January through November 2011 (last reported month), representing a 7.2% increase over the same period in 2010.
The group says Florida tourism has been steadily regaining market share since January 2011, outpacing the rest of the U.S. by more than 2 percentage points. According to Smith Travel Research, room revenue in Florida for 2011 was up 10.9% compared to 2010, while the U.S. is only up 8.8%.
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