WHY IT RATES: Orlando's milestone as the most-visited American city in 2018 shows that the destination is becoming more widely known and recognized as a fantastic place to visit. -Alex Temblador, TravelPulse Associate Writer
Tourism officials announced today a historic milestone for the U.S. travel industry as Orlando released news of a record-setting 75 million annual visitors in 2018. The increase of 4.2 percent over the prior year once again solidifies Orlando's lead position as America's most-visited destination.
Visit Orlando, the region's official destination tourism and marketing organization, shared the news as part of National Travel & Tourism Week to a gathering of more than 1,000 tourism and community leaders.
"It was another record-breaking year for Orlando with both domestic and international visitation," said Visit Orlando President and CEO George Aguel. "We saw strong gains from all of our core countries, particularly from Latin America. This success is a testament to the special appeal of our destination that continues to grow and evolve, as well as our strong commitment to strategic marketing initiatives."
Orlando reached a host of new milestones in 2018 including:
-Record number of U.S. visitors: 68.55 million (+4.1 percent)
-Record number of international visitors: 6.48 million (+5.4 percent)
-Record airline arrivals: Orlando International Airport (OIA) maintained its position as the busiest airport in Florida, with 47.7 million passengers (+6.9 percent)
-Record international airline arrivals: OIA's international arrivals reached 6.6 million passengers (+11.64 percent)
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