Florida breaks visitor record while hotel rates and occupancy hit new highs
Florida – Florida has officially broken a new record for tourism. In 2024, the state had the most visitors in a single year in its history. Newly released numbers show that Florida had an amazing 143 million visitors last year, breaking the previous record and showing that the state continues to be a very popular place to visit.
The most recent data shows that there are 1.7% more visitors than in 2023. More than 130 million of these tourists arrived from the United States, which is a huge number. Travelers from other countries also had a big effect. Almost 9 million international visitors arrived, along with more than 3.4 million tourists from Canada. The large number of visitors brought in billions of dollars in sales tax revenue, which helped Florida’s economy and supported a wide range of businesses around the state.
Governor Ron DeSantis said that the record-breaking figures were very important and that the state’s policies and reputation were to blame for the growth.
“Florida’s tourism industry leads the nation,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “These results are proof that our freedom-first policies work—and that Florida remains the best place to visit, work, and raise a family.”
The enthusiasm hasn’t slowed down in 2025. Florida welcomed 41.2 million more tourists in just the first three months of this year, making it even more clear that it is the country’s top tourist destination. Almost 92% of the visitors were from the United States, which is a slight rise from the same time previous year. In the first three months of 2025, Florida also got 2.1 million tourists from other countries and 1.2 million from Canada.
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Most visitors continue to arrive by car or other means of transportation that don’t include flying, but flying is still an important aspect of Florida’s tourism industry. In fact, the state’s airports handled around 30 million passengers in only the first three months. The airports in Punta Gorda, St. Petersburg–Clearwater, and Daytona Beach all posted strong growth.
The hotel industry in Florida is also doing well. The average daily fee went up to little over $227, the number of rooms sold went up by 2.4%, and the occupancy rate reached about 76%. These numbers show that there is a consistent demand for places to stay and that passengers are willing to pay a little more for their stays.
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Tourism remains a very important part of Florida’s economy. It creates jobs and makes towns stronger all around the state. Officials think that Florida will continue to break its own records as the most popular tourist destination in the US for years to come, as long as they invest wisely and promote the state.
