48.9 Million Visitors Experienced Orlando in 2008
International Visitation Shows Strong Growth.
ORLANDO, FL, June 4, 2009 - During 2008, Orlando welcomed 48.9 million visitors, the second best year on record. This represents an increase of .3 percent as compared with 2007. International travel, which includes overseas countries and Canada, totaled 3.4 million, an increase of 18.9 percent. Canadian visitation increased sharply by 20.1 percent to an estimated 940,000 and overseas visitation excluding the United Kingdom increased by 38.4 percent to 1,474,000. The total number of visitors from the United Kingdom decreased by 3.1 percent to 959,000. Domestic travel accounted for 45.5 million visitors, a decline of .9 percent.
2008 Domestic Visitation
Leisure visitors - the largest of all demographics and which account for 78 percent of all domestic visitors - decreased .1 percent. Overnight leisure visitation increased by .8 percent, while those leisure visitors staying only for a day declined by 2 percent. Total business visitation decreased by 3.2 percent with overnight business visitation declining by 3.8 percent and overnight group meetings declining 7.8 percent, while day business visitation decreased by 2.6 percent.
2008 International Visitor Volume
International visitor volume to Orlando in 2008 was up 18.9 percent from 2007 to 3.4 million visitors. Overseas volume, which excludes Canada and Mexico, increased 18.4 percent to more than 2.4 million visitors. Canada visitation increased significantly from 783,000 in 2007 to 940,000 in 2008.
The United Kingdom represented 39.4 percent of all overseas visitors and remained Orlando's largest international origin with a 3.1 percent decrease in visitors in 2008. Overseas visitors, excluding the United Kingdom, increased 38.4 percent in 2008.
D.K. Shifflet & Associates Ltd., a travel research firm, specializes in consumer-based travel data. DKS&A's DIRECTIONS(R) Travel Intelligence SystemSM collects detailed monthly travel data on more than 150,000 trips annually collected from a sample of US households.
Overseas travel numbers are provided by the United States Department of Commerce's Office of Travel & Tourism Industries through in flight surveys and analysis of customs paperwork provided by travelers.
The Orlando CVB is the branding, sales and marketing organization responsible for positioning Orlando as the destination of choice for leisure and meetings business for the economic benefit of the Orlando region. The organization celebrates 25 years of destination management excellence in 2009. For more information, visit orlandoinfo.com/research.
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