FLORIDA — Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday that 2015 was another record breaking year for tourism in central Florida.
Scott said that 105 million people visited the state, breaking the record for the fifth straight year, and that six of Florida's beaches ranked in the top 10 in the country.
He said more visitors means more jobs and that every 85 visitors equals one job.
"What's really important is almost 1.2 million jobs are tied to tourism. That's a significant increase from 5 years ago. The year before I got elected, the tourism numbers were 82 million, so going form 82 million to 105 million tourists means a lot more jobs," Scott said.
Scott said legislature supported the spending of more money to help market the state. He said they nearly tripled their spending from five years ago to $74.5 million last year.
Will Seccombe, CEO of Visit Florida, said the state has 105 million advocates talking about the state and posting to social media to help spread the word.
The company's hastag, "Love FL," has nearly 700,000 posts on Instagram.
Scott said there's still room to grow to reach the new goal of 115 million tourists.
Cox Media Group
