In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Leonardo Salazar, Public Relations Manager of Visit Orlando.
What are the results at the level of international visitors?
International visitors are returning to the United States, including Orlando. In 2023, we will receive 6.1 million visitors from all international countries, which is 94% of those who came before the pandemic. The number of returning visitors was 25% higher than the previous year and we are hoping that by 2025 or perhaps this year 2024 we will reach the numbers we had before the pandemic, or even surpass them.
Do you remember what numbers we are talking about?
In 2019 we had 75 million visitors, in 2022 74 million visitors arrived. The 2023 number of visitors will be announced in two weeks for the city of Orlando, but what we do know is the percentage of international visitors.
What is the predominant international market?
Canada was the first market to exceed the numbers and broke a record with 12 million visitors. After Canada we have the UK, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, being the five most important international markets for Orlando. The numbers are advancing rapidly and we hope that by this year or next we will surpass pre-pandemic records.
And what is Visit Orlando doing to help those numbers grow?
Visit Orlando is the official organization that promotes the destination around the world. We have offices in the UK, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and of course in the United States. Currently, we have public relations agencies for Latin America in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. We also have the training team for Orlando Travel Academy, where we ask travel agents to sign up and learn, and even become specialists in the destination, and by becoming specialists they can get certain discounted benefits when they visit the city.
These last two years we have been advertising on television, on Out of Home, and also on social media and public relations. We work by sending public relations information; There is press, social media, emails and newsletters. We are creating our database so people can get involved. If you go to the VisitOrlando.com page, you can be a member and we send you information so you know what is happening in Orlando, this is useful for the media, travel agents and direct consumers alike.
What new attractions does Orlando offer for its visitors?
Orlando is a city that is always recreating itself, precisely we are recognized as the world capital of theme parks, Disney has four parks in Orlando, Universal has two and SeaWorld has two. Then we have Kennedy Space Center, Legoland and Peppa Pig. We are talking about approximately 18 parks. And Universal Studios will be opening a new one next year, which is Epic Universe.
We have so many theme parks that we are now also promoting attractions outside of them, because we have more than 100 attractions beyond the parks, with outdoor activities, in closed complexes with different virtual or game experiences and museums, such as the wax museum , or Crayola Experience.
Additionally, one of the other new things that is happening in Orlando is that gastronomy is growing internationally. We have more than 6000 restaurants with 40 cuisines from all over the world. With the Michelin guide we have 48 recognized restaurants, seven have one star and of those seven, four were added this year. So the gastronomy is already recognized and that elevates Orlando in terms of what there is to eat in the city. Nowadays there are luxury restaurants, there are also street restaurants, because Michelin does not only represent luxury and expensive restaurants, but it includes the atmosphere, the food, the service and the experience.
Another thing we are promoting is professional sports, because now we have the Orlando Magic, which is a basketball team, we have the Solar Bears, which is a hockey team, and Orlando City Soccer and Orlando Pride, which are the two men's and women's soccer teams in Orlando. . And this year we have already had several friendly games with Brazil, with Flamengo, and the Copa América. Orlando is one of the venues that will host Copa America games, and it is also the national tennis venue of the United States, so tennis professionals are being trained in the city to compete around the world. Orlando is becoming a hub for professional sports.
What is the situation of culture in Orlando?
We are promoting culture a lot because we now have our Arts Theater Center, so we have Broadway plays coming to Orlando. We have ballet, opera, concerts by renowned artists around the world, in addition to professional games. We also celebrate the international culture that we have, so during the different months we can have the celebration for Hispanics, celebrations for people of Asian origin, LGBT people, Irish, or African-Americans. We are talking about an Orlando that is for everyone and everyone is welcome and included in the activities we have in the city.
What impact has Brightline, the fast train, had?
Brightline has been wonderful for us. Now direct flights to Orlando are beginning to return, but flights to Miami are still being used, especially in Latin America. So people travel to Miami, to Fort Lauderdale and with the train that leaves from the Miami airport they can reach the Orlando airport in three hours. It is a luxury train that has different prices, there are almost 30 daily departures to the city of Orlando. It has been a very good impact for us in the city of Orlando.