Tourists Spent a Record $71.8 Billion in Florida in 2012

By Kyle Munzenrieder Fri., Mar. 8 2013 at 11:24 AM

Florida's economy might not exactly be fully recovered, but one of our main industries broke a record last year. Tourists spent a combined $71.8 billion in Florida in 2012. That's an all-time record, and a 6.8 percent increase from 2011, which was also a record year.

According to Visit Florida, 90 million people visited Florida last year. That includes 10.2 million overseas visitors and 3.6 million Canadians, don't ya know. All in all, the tourists spent a combined 500 million vacation nights in the state.

Tourists spent $67.2 million in Florida in 2011. Before then, the last record-setting year was in 2007, when tourists spent $65.5 billion. Tourism dollars fell during the recession but are once again improving.

"Florida's tourism industry is critical to Florida families as it serves as a vital source of revenue to the state and a key driver of employment -- and that's why our Florida Families First Budget commits $75 million to Visit Florida, so we can better grow jobs and opportunities for Florida families," Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement.

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frankd4 topcommenter

.................and don't get me starting on PARKING TICKETS ................our medium-and-short term visitors basically have no way of contesting a summons and are effectively denied their rights to civil proceedings !

long story short TOURISTs have no practical way to contest PARKING TICKETs = period

is this how we should treat our visitors ? deny them justice ?

frankd4 topcommenter

so if TOURISTs are a good thing, then WHY do we keep creating more and more ways to SCREW them ?

WHY should tourists pay taxes to build a sports stadium ? WHAT tourists come down here to see the MARLINs ? ( yes.........they really come to see the METs or YANKEEs = but they would attend despite the expensive stadium )

WHY do the TOURISTs have to put up with a lack of public transportation, security and clean ocean water ( the city of hollywood pumps 40,ooo,ooo gallons of sewage A DAY into the ocean = yeah its treated BUT in warm weather the beaches close because of "FECAL MATTER" warnings = yuk ! )

WHY do the TOURISTs get towed away from the NUMBER ONE tourist destination in this area, SAWGRASS MILLS MALL, on a friday after thanksgiving , while SHOPPING and holiday SPENDING..........and then be denied sharing taxi cabs rides and having to PAY a flat $95 to go less than 10 miles ! ........ (LOCAL residents involved in this fiasco got FULLY reimbursed from the APPLEBYs corporate parent, BUT how did TOURISTs get their money back ? )

WHY can't our LIBRARIES be cultural centers for TOURISTs, much like as they are in the counties our visiotrs COME FROM, instead of homeless shelters for hobos and miscreants and basically INaccessible as places of resources

IF IT wasn't for the SUN vs SNOW this area would simply be SOL because we really aren't good hosts