Florida officials are crediting the state’s open door pandemic policy for a record-setting number of tourists during the first three months of the year that surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
According to the state’s tourism agency, Visit Florida, the Sunshine State had a record 36.1 million visitors from January to March. That’s up from 26.16 million tourists during the first quarter of last year and 30.4 million during the same period in 2020.
It’s also up from the 35.79 million who visited in the first three months of 2019, making Florida the first state to report that its tourism industry has passed pre-pandemic levels.
Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, said Thursday that more travelers started visiting when Florida decided to remain open last July to September during the omicron surge.
California and New York returned to heavy lockdowns during that same period, she noted.
“People crave normalcy and Florida has felt 100% normal for at least a year — no mask mandates, no vaccine passports and no pandemic-related restrictions,” Ms. Pushaw told The Washington Times in an email.
“Neither California nor New York is exceeding pre-pandemic tourism levels,” she added.
Ms. Pushaw said “COVID mandates and violent crime surges have driven people away from cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, which had previously been among the hottest tourist destinations in the world.”
Visit California estimates that the Golden State’s total number of visitors will grow to 261.7 million this year from 213.5 million last year. That remains below the 286 million who visited California in 2019.
In the Empire State, New York City’s tourism agency estimates that the Big Apple will not surpass its pre-pandemic tourism numbers until 2024. The agency says New York City had 66.6 million visitors in 2019, 32.9 million in 2021, and will have an estimated 56.4 million visitors this year.
According to Visit Florida, Florida surpassed the state of New York for international tourism for the first time at the end of last year.
Florida welcomed 1.3 million overseas travelers during the first quarter this year, an increase of nearly 169% from the same period in 2021. That included 578,000 Canadian “snowbird” tourists, a 955% spike.
Overseas visitation to Florida during the first quarter was 14 percentage points closer to full recovery than the rest of the nation.
“In addition to breaking more pre-pandemic records domestically, we are seeing an exponential rebound in Orlando as well as our international numbers, which we expect to continue in the months ahead,” Dana Young, Visit Florida’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Visit Florida also reported a spike in air travel. Total enplanements at 19 Florida airports increased by 70.1% year-over-year during the first three months of the year, with the largest number of air travelers heading to Miami and Orlando.
Miami saw 6.2 million enplaned passengers, an increase of 112.2% from last year. Orlando International Airport had 5.8 million enplaned passengers, an 66.7% increase.
Meanwhile, Florida’s quarterly hotel demand passed pre-pandemic levels for the first time from Jan. 1 to March 31. The number of hotel rooms sold grew by 31.4% during the first three months of the year over the same period last year, with occupancy rates increasing about 24%.
Mr. DeSantis said in a statement that the numbers defy earlier predictions that Florida’s tourism economy wouldn’t recover fully until 2024.
“Florida’s tourism industry begins 2022 with incredible strength, proving that freedom first policies will always win, especially when combatting the inept economic policies coming out of D.C.,” the governor said.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
