Skift Take
It will be interesting to see if the Brand USA campaign to attract foreign visitors really kicks in at theme park turnstiles.
Travel to Orlando is expected to increase slightly in 2013, driven by Americans' growing desire to get away for a while and by solid growth in the number of international visitors.
Visit Orlando, the area's main tourism-marketing agency, expects about 57.3 million people to visit the area this year on vacation or business, which would be 1 percent higher than its still-unofficial estimate for 2012 -- and a fourth consecutive annual record. After falling to 46.6 million in 2009, the latter part of the Great Recession, Orlando's annual visitor count set records in 2010 and 2011 and is expected to do so a third time when the 2012 figure is confirmed.
The agency projects a 4.4 percent increase in international travelers this year, to 4.1 million. Even the number of U.S. visitors, initially expected to decline slightly, is now forecast by the bu
