Orlando Welcomed 46.6 Million Visitors in 2009

During 2009 Orlando, Fla., welcomed 46.6 million visitors, making it the most-visited U.S. destination of the year. This total visitation number represents just a 4.7 percent decrease as compared with 2008, marking a much stronger performance than the earlier forecast by D.K. Shifflet and Associates of a 9.9 percent decrease in a difficult year for the travel and tourism industry.

Domestic travel, which represented 93 percent of total visitors in 2009, accounted for 43.3 million visitors. International travel, which includes overseas countries and Canada, totaled nearly 3.3 million.

As expected, Canada overtook the United Kingdom to become Orlando’s top international market with 865,000 visitors versus 831,000 visitors, respectively. The United Kingdom still represented 35 percent of all overseas visitors and remained Orlando’s largest overseas origin. Overseas visitors excluding the United Kingdom increased 6.4 percent in 2009.