The post Orlando’s tourism industry generated $100B in economic impact in 2025, Visit Orlando says appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
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Being the No. 1 tourist spot in the United States boosted Orlando’s economy by $98.6 billion last year, tourist leaders said.
Visit Orlando held a news conference to release a new economic study that shows the region’s economic impact in 2025 rose 4% from 2024.
“If you were to average visitor spending out across the entire year, you’d be looking at $172 million a day in visitor spending,” said Adam Sacks, President of Tourism Economics, which conducted the roughly $76,000 study commissioned by Visit Orlando, the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association, Seminole County and Experience Kissimmee.
The nearly $100 billion in annual economic impact includes direct visitor spending on theme park tickets, hotels and restaurants, as well as a ripple effect from suppliers who support the tourism industry and the household spending of tourism workers, he said.
In Central Florida, about 37% of all jobs are either directly or indirectly tied to the tourism industry, Sacks said.
Visitors’ spending generated $7.1 billion in tax revenue last year. Sacks broke that figure down, saying 7% came from hotel taxes, with the rest raised from sales tax, corporate income tax and other revenue streams.
Disney World operates the No. 1 busiest theme park in the world, and Universal opened a new theme park built from the ground up last year, helping drive visitors. Beyond the parks, Visit Orlando has also sought to market Central Florida as a foodie destination and a thriving arts community, while sports venues have drawn major sporting events and large-scale youth sports tournaments to the region.
An estimated 76.7 million people visited Orlando in 2025, according to Visit Orlando, which promotes the region’s tourism industry.
“Orlando remains the No. 1 travel destination in the country, and with that honor comes great reward,” Visit Orlando CEO Casandra Matej said during Thursday’s news conference.
Those visitors are helping Central Florida rapidly rebound from the pandemic-related shutdowns of 2020. Matej called Orlando’s recovery, which has outpaced the rest of the country, a welcome surprise.
The tourism industry’s economic impact has doubled since Sacks began studying it in 2010.
The post Orlando’s tourism industry generated $100B in economic impact in 2025, Visit Orlando says appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..
