Central Florida Tourism Achieves New Record-Breaking Milestone

Central Florida brought in a record $87.6 billion in 2022, a significant 31 percent increase over the previous year.

That’s according to research authorized by Visit Orlando, Experience Kissimmee, Seminole County and Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association.

With the ongoing feud between Governor Ron DeSantis and Walt Disney World now at its apex, it will be interesting to see what the numbers are next year. But for right now, the region can revel in what 2022 brought in.

The research was conducted by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company focused on combining an understanding of the travel sector with proven economic tools. More than 500 companies, associations, and destinations work with Tourism Economics every year as a research partner. Oxford Economics is one of the world’s foremost independent global advisory firms, providing reports, forecasts and analytical tools on 200 countries, 100 industrial sectors and over 3,000 cities.

Central Florida is home to the major theme parks, including Disney, Universal, and Sea World. Tourists often find it less expensive to stay in Kissimmee than in Orlando proper.

Visitor spending surpassed pre-pandemic levels by $7.5 billion in 2022.

“Orlando’s 2022 visitor spending is 16 percent higher than 2019 levels, which is remarkable against the backdrop of national performance where travel spending barely reached pre pandemic levels in 2022,” said Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics. “Visitor spending in Orlando last year was the equivalent economic impact of 1,500 Taylor Swift concerts, or put differently, a concert every night for 4 straight years.”

To paraphrase Swift herself, that’s a love story in and of itself.

Orange County, Florida, home to Orlando, accounts for 85 percent of the visitor spending of the total $87 billion.

“As a result of the 74 million visitors to our region in 2022, the new data from Tourism Economics shows that the post-pandemic rebound of our region’s tourism industry tremendously benefitted our community,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. “Visitors are the economic driver for our region’s economy, creating jobs for residents and contributing billions of dollars in taxes collected for our local government, which funds our community’s schools, law enforcement, fire departments, library system, public parks and more.”