SkiftStats: Florida’s 2012 tourism numbers set a new state record
Photo Credit: Water sports at Florida's Sanibel Island. Flickr / Bob Shepard
Skift Take
Florida's courting of tourists has meant good things for residents as well: Better beaches, improving transportation, and jobs where other states in the U.S. fall short.
It was a banner year for Florida tourism in 2012, as an additional 2 million people enjoyed the Sunshine State, setting the tourism industry up for its second consecutive record year.
An estimated 89.3 million people came to Florida in 2012, up 2.3 percent compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing agency. That beat out the previous record -- 87.3 million -- set in 2011.
The state saw particularly large gains in overseas visitors, as well as Canadians. Approximately 10.2 million overseas visitors came to Florida last year, which was an increase of 9 percent compared with a year earlier. About 3.6 million Canadians visited the state, an increase of 7.3 percent from the prior year.
"Surpassing the 10 million overseas visitor mark for the first time ever is a significant milestone for Florida's tourism industry," said Glenn Hastings, Visit Florida's chairman and executive director of the St. Joh
