NEWS: Orlando Announces Record 75 Million Visitors

Visit Orlando has sent us a press release announcing a new tourism milestone that Orlando reached in 2018!

(Left to right) Adrian Jones, Visit Orlando Board Chair and Divisional Director USA, Merlin Entertainments USA Inc.; Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings; and George Aguel, President and CEO, Visit Orlando; celebrate a record 75 million visitors to Orlando in 2018.

Tourism officials announced today a historic milestone for the U.S. travel industry as Orlando released news of a record-setting 75 million annual visitors in 2018. The increase of 4.2% over the prior year once again solidifies Orlando’s lead position as America’s most-visited destination.

 

Visit Orlando, the region’s official destination tourism and marketing organization, shared the news as part of National Travel & Tourism Week to a gathering of more than 1,000 tourism and community leaders.

 

“It was another record-breaking year for Orlando with both domestic and international visitation,” said Visit Orlando President and CEO George Aguel. “We saw strong gains from all of our core countries, particularly from Latin America. This success is a testament to the special appeal of our destination that continues to grow and evolve, as well as our strong commitment to strategic marketing initiatives.”

 

Orlando reached a host of new milestones in 2018 including:

 

• Record number of U.S. visitors: 68.55 million (+4.1%)
  
• Record number of international visitors: 6.48 million (+5.4%)
  
• Record airline arrivals: Orlando International Airport (OIA) maintained its position as the busiest airport in Florida, with 47.7 million passengers (+6.9%)
  
• Record international airline arrivals: OIA’s international arrivals reached 6.6 million passengers (+11.64%)

As a visitor who visited Orlando many times in my lifetime I would like to commend Orlando, Florida for achieving such a milestone. For a big city that has Walt Disney World, Seaworld, Universal World, Ripley's Believe it or Not!, Wonderworks, the Orlando Eye, two Fun Spots, the largest McDonalds in the world, and three Cici's Pizzas (what other city also has three Cici's?) Orlando have many things to offer and many things to do for its visitors. For the now defunct attractions to today's attractions and the new attractions yet to come, Orlando should gain the title of "America's Vacation Destination"!

"Hey, it's always been my fantasyland!"

and three Cici's Pizzas (what other city also has three Cici's?)

Dallas has 10, and that's just in the city itself, there're more in the suburbs.

Good for Orlando, though, they've really worked hard at making it a great city.

I knew there was a reason I had been seeing more "nose dives" (realizing they missed their exit and cutting across four lanes of traffic to make it) lately.

and three Cici's Pizzas (what other city also has three Cici's?)

Dallas has 10, and that's just in the city itself, there're more in the suburbs.

Wow, Dallas must love Cici's Pizza if they placed ten stores inside their city. I'm pretty sure there are other cities in the USA that have just as many stores that Dallas has.

One more thing - I know I might get some flack about stating about Orlando has two Fun Spots when in fact one Fun Spot is located in Orlando while the other one is located in Kissimmee. Well, Kissimmee is close to Oralando, so methinks it could count in someway. Well, at least you don't have to travel far from one Fun Spot to the other.

"Plus, that's where Mickey lives! That's what the folks at Walt Disney World told me, and I shall treat it as gospel!"