Visit Orlando, The Official Tourism Association for Orlando, announced 74 million annual visitors in 2022. With a 25% increase in visitors over 2021, Orlando maintains its leadership position as America’s most-visited destination. By reaching 74 million visitors in 2022, Orlando achieved 98% of pre-pandemic (2019) 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 U.S. and international markets,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando. “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 visitation uptick comes off the back of Visit Orlando’s new Unbelievably Real brand launch, first introduced in May 2022 to domestic visitors followed by an international marketing campaign in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru. The comprehensive campaigns reached 54% of Orlando’s target market households and generated more than $8 billion in additional future direct visitor spending equating to $359 in visitor spending for each dollar of media spent.
In 2022, domestic leisure visitation completely recovered and reached a new record at 61 million, while U.S. business visitation is still in recovery mode:
• United States: 69,141,000 (21% increase YoY)
• Leisure: 61,201,000
• Business: 7,940,000
International visitation recovered to 75% of pre-pandemic, reaching 4.9 million in 2022. Canada, UK and Brazil were the top three international origin markets to Orlando.
• Canada: 860,700
• United Kingdom: 809,000
• Brazil: 575,000
• Mexico: 394,000
• Colombia: 287,000
In 2023, Orlando, Theme Park Capital of the World, continues to grow with an exciting lineup of new experiences for visitors to enjoy – from a new eco-friendly, high speed rail service connecting Orlando and Miami to theme park experiences including a first-of-its-kind diabolical family attraction inspired by the Minions to the world’s first surf coaster.
For more information go to VisitOrlando.com.