Florida tourists are again coming in droves, rejuvenating the economy statewide and affirming the success of the state’s efforts to contain tourism-related problems that arose from the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill. According to Visit Florida Research, about 85.9 million tourists visited Florida in 2011, marking a 4.4-percent increase from the number of visitors in 2010, and surpassing the previous peak of 84.5 million visitors in 2007. As usual, these visitors came from other U.S. States, from Canada and from other countries.
Nearly 53 percent of the 85.9 million tourists entered Florida by plane and the rest came by car or any other type of ground transportation. Canada is especially mentioned because Canadians have been accounting for the biggest percent of nationalities visiting Florida. In 2011, an estimated 3.3 million Canadians traveled for leisure and related reasons to Florida, more than doubling the estimated 1.5 million visitors coming from second-ranked Brazil. Canadians are so familiar in Florida that they’re the only foreigners who have acquired the description Florida ‘snowbirds’ -– people who spend winters in Florida and summers elsewhere. Florida Tourism Commission also stated that Canadian tourists drive more than 60 percent of the state’s tourism economy.
Here are the top foreign markets for Florida tourism in 2011, according to Visit Florida Research:
| Canada | 3.3 million tourists |
| Brazil | 1.5 million |
| United Kingdom | 1.3 million |
| Mexico | 387,000 |
| Argentina | 375,500 |
The number of Canadians coming to Florida to escape the freezing winter cold in the North has been rising since the 1920s. The 3.3 million total of Canadian visitors in 2011 was almost double the 1.7 total in 1999, was a 73.7-percent increase from 2001, and was a 6.45-percent increase from the previous year, 2010. A majority of them visit Florida for pleasure and they spend an average of 17.4 nights in the state.
In addition to being great tourists, Canadians are also great home buyers. According to a report by the National Association of Realtor (NAR) on international buyers of U.S. homes in 2011, Canadians dominated the Florida market, accounting for 39 percent of all foreign buyers of Florida homes in 2011.
As to the domestic tourism market, the top states of origin of Florida tourists in 2011 according to Visit Florida Research were the following:
| Georgia | 11.3 percent |
| New York | 7.7 percent |
| Illinois | 6.4 percent |
| North Carolina | 5.5 percent |
| New Jersey | 5.5 percent |
The top metropolitan markets for Florida tourism in 2011 were New York City, Atlanta and Chicago. In addition, most of those who came to Florida by air were from New York City, Chicago and Boston and most of those who came by car were from Atlanta, New York City and Birmingham.
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