More than 74 million visitors came to the Orlando in 2022, making the destination the most visited in the US, according to Visit Florida. Among them were over 860,000 Canadians, representing the Florida city’s top international market.
While falling just short of pre-pandemic levels (98%), the number of tourists was 25% greater than it was in 2021, when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations. The area’s theme parks closed for several months in 2020 in an effort to stop the virus’ spread.
In 2022, international visitation recovered to 75% of pre-pandemic, reaching 4.9 million. Following Canada, the top markets were the UK (809,000), Brazil (575,000), Mexico (394,000), and Colombia (287,000)
The Orlando area, meanwhile, had more than 69 million domestic visitors, with most of them visiting for vacations, a segment that has fully recovered, tourism officials said. Business visitors still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.
“This past year proved to be a key recovery timeframe for Orlando’s tourism industry, with a lot of pent-up demand from our top US and international markets,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando, the area’s tourism promotion organization.
She added, “As our top international market, Canada plays an extremely important role in these visitation numbers. Our new international brand launch and strong commitment to strategic sales and marketing initiatives, combined with our destination’s continuous evolution of new unbelievably real experiences, helped Orlando maintain its leadership position and achieve strong visitation numbers.”
The ‘Unbelievably Real’ brand launch was first introduced in May 2022 to domestic visitors followed by an international marketing campaign in Canada and other destinations.
New developments in 2023 will include a new eco-friendly, high speed rail service connecting Orlando and Miami and theme park experiences ranging from a first-of-its-kind diabolical family attraction inspired by the Minions to the world’s first surf coaster.