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Florida’s tourism numbers plunge in wake of COVID-19

A recent presentation from Visit Florida, the state’s tourism arm, is showing just how hard the state has been hit by COVID-19 and the stop to travel.

“Preliminary estimates indicate 31.9 million total visitors (in person-trips) traveled to Florida during the first quarter of 2020,” according to the presentation, which covers Jan. 1 through March 31. “This represents a decrease of -10.7%from the same period in 2019, driven by the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and tourism. Domestic visitors accounted for 89%of total visitors, while overseas and Canadian visitors accounted for 7% and 4%, respectively.”

“Coronavirus

The snapshot of lost tourism will undoubtedly get worse when the Q2 numbers are released showing the lost months of April and May.

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“An estimated 28.5 million domestic visitors traveling to Florida between January and March of 2020, a decrease of -9.7% from the same period the previous year,” according to the report. “Overseas visitation is estimated at 2.2 million during the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of -20.6%.”

Of the Florida airports seeing the largest decrease, Jacksonville had a 21.5% drop while Orlando International experienced only a 10.8% drop in Q1.

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Statewide the hotel occupancy rate also fell in Q1 by 15.5%.