According to new estimates from VISIT FLORIDA, international visitors have dramatically increased travel to Florida. Calendar year 2023 (Q1 + Q2) saw massive increases in foreign (+21.8%) and Mexican (+14%) visitation compared to the same time period in 2022. Florida received a total of 33.1 million of visitors between April and June 2023, of which 118,000 were Mexican travelers. Florida also continues to break annual visitation records with 70.8 million visitors in calendar year 2023.
"VISIT FLORIDA has been focused on building our key international markets and ensuring the return of international visitors to Florida, and that work has paid off," said Dana Young, President and CEO of VISIT FLORIDA. “While other states have finally opened their doors to domestic visitors and created more competition, Florida once again leads the way in international visitors. Florida has the highest share of international visitors ahead of New York and California and we lead the nation in recovering overseas arrivals compared to 2019.”
Highlights of the latest visitation estimates from VISIT FLORIDA include:
- For the first two quarters of 2023, Florida saw massive increases in foreign visitation by 21.8 percent and Mexico's 10.3 percent, while domestic visitation saw a small drop of 1.1 percent over the first two quarters of 2023. same period.
- Total visitation for calendar year 2023 reached 70.8 million, an increase of 1.3% over the first six months of 2022 and 4.5% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. - In
the In the second quarter of 2023, Florida continued to post significant quarterly increases, with 11% more visits coming from abroad in the second quarter of 2022. Domestic visits were 4.6% higher than in the second quarter of 2019.
- Preliminary estimates indicate that 33.1 million total visitors traveled to Florida in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 2.6 percent over Q2 2019.
- Q2 2023 visitation is estimated at 30.3 million of national visitors, 1.9 million international visitors and 118,000 Mexican visitors. Which places Mexico one position above the Q1 result, we are now at number 5 in visitors to the Sunshine State.
- Domestic visitors represented 91.6 percent of visitors in the second quarter of 2023, while foreign visitors foreigners were 5.9%.
- Preliminary data shows that, for the second year in a row, Florida leads the nation with the highest foreign visitor market share in 2022, which is only the second time any state has had a higher share than New York.
Additionally, Florida leads the country in recovering the number of overseas travelers visiting Florida post-pandemic, with an 80% recovery rate compared to 2019 numbers, while New York follows with 75. % and California with 68%. The national foreign arrival rate also trails Florida at 73%