74 Million Tourists Visited Orlando, Florida, Almost Reaching Pre-Pandemic Levels

People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on April 18, 2022. Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo

More than 74 million visitors came to the Orlando, Florida, area last year, Visit Orlando, the official tourism association for Orlando, said Thursday. This puts Orland0 at 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

The number of tourists was 25 percent greater than it was in 2021 when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations. The area’s theme parks closed for several months in 2020 in an effort to stop the virus’s spread.

“This past year proved to be a key recovery timeframe for Orlando’s tourism industry, with a lot of pent-up demand from our top U.S. and international markets,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO for Visit Orlando, the area’s tourism promotion organization.

The Orlando area had more than 69 million domestic visitors, with most of them visiting for vacations, a segment that has fully recovered, tourism officials said. However, business visitors still lagged behind pre-pandemic levels.

A report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) found that Orlando was the largest U.S. Travel and Tourism city destination in 2022 with an economic contribution of over $31 billion, which represents 20 percent of the city’s total GDP and marks a recovery above pre-pandemic 2019 levels by $2.7 billion.

In comparison, Paris was the most visited city around the world with 44 million tourists in 2022, which generated more than $21 billion in revenue, according to The Brussels Times. But visitation is still 13 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels.

According to a press release, Orlando saw an uptick in visitation due to the tourism association’s Unbelievably Real marketing campaign launched in 2022. It was first introduced to domestic visitors and followed by an international marketing campaign in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru.

There were 4.9 million international tourists, making up only about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, according to Visit Orlando. The two biggest sources of international visitors were Canada and the United Kingdom, with over 800,000 traveling to the city each, followed by Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

“Our new international brand launch and strong commitment to strategic sales and marketing initiatives, combined with our destination’s continuous evolution of new unbelievably real experiences, helped Orlando maintain its leadership position and achieve strong visitation numbers,” Matej added.

According to Orlando Sentinel, Visit Orlando received $96 million in Tourist Development Tax in 2022 for promoting the Orange County Convention Center, Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld theme parks, and other attractions to national and international audiences, an effort that kept Orlando as America’s most-visited destination, the agency said.

Meanwhile, WTTC’s Cities Economic Impact Report listed Las Vegas as the second-largest Travel & Tourism market in the United States with a direct GDP contribution of $23 billion last year. Miami, New York City, and Los Angeles also landed in the top U.S. rankings for 2022 with Travel & Tourism with GPD contributions ranging between $11 billion to $23 billion, according to the report.

“It was a fightback year for cities across the country in 2022. Destinations like Orlando, Miami, Chicago, and Las Vegas are back stronger than ever before thanks to the relaxation of pandemic restrictions and a strong rebound of consumer confidence,” said Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO.

“Other popular holiday destinations like San Francisco, Honolulu, and Washington D.C. are following suit with growing sector GDP contributions that are well on their way to recovering from peak pandemic lows as they build up their industry workforce and cultivate a flourishing base of international travelers.”