Orlando welcomed 72 million tourists

Friday, May 11, 2018

Even though Hurricane Irma compelled the close down of many theme parks and airports and jam packed hotels with displaced evacuees, still a record-breaking 72 million tourists rushed to Orlando last year, tourism officials confirmed on Thursday.

 
The 5 percent annual growth in visitor numbers was boosted by domestic travelers, as visits from international travelers remained quite less. With those visitor numbers, Orlando grabbed the title as the most visited destination in the United States.

 
“The success in Orlando is great, not just for this iconic destination, but for travel as a whole,” said Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, who was present in Orlando for declaring the 2017 figures.

 
Tourism in Orlando, and different parts of Florida on last September had closed for a week while preparing to reinstall the damages of the calamity and the aftermath of Hurricane Irma on the peninsula. For almost two days, the area’s theme parks remained closed and planes stopped flying out of central Florida airports. Millions of coastal residents were ordered to empty the place, sending many of them inland to hotels in Orlando.

 
In spite of the short-term closures, Irma didn’t create any extensive harm in central Florida, even though the hurricane damaged other sections of the state, like the Florida Keys. After the hurricane, Visit Orlando, the area’s tourism board, introduced various social media and publicity campaigns that showed central Florida is keen for business venture.

 
George Aguel, CEO of Visit Orlando explained that the record number of visitors in Orlando has been built due to constant addition of new attractions and rides at the area’s theme parks. The theme parks have been on a recent building spree.

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