Florida is hot, and it’s not just the weather. VISIT FLORIDA yesterday announced the strongest international visitation numbers the state has seen since 2019. And that includes nearly 850,000 Canadians to date in 2023 – a whopping 80% ahead of the same period in 2022.

According to new estimates for the first half of the year, the Sunshine State saw massive increases in overseas (+21.8%) and Canadian (+81.1%) visitation compared to the same time period last year. Florida welcomed a total of 33.1 million visitors between April and June 2023, with 1.9 million of those being overseas visitors and 846,000 Canadian visitors. Florida also continues to beat records with annual visitation with 70.8 million visitors in calendar year 2023.

“VISIT FLORIDA has been laser-focused on building our key international markets and ensuring the return of international visitors to Florida and that work has paid off,” said VISIT FLORIDA President & CEO Dana Young. “While other states have finally opened their doors to domestic visitors and created more competition, Florida is again leading in international visitors. Florida has the largest share of international visitors ahead of New York and California and we lead the nation in overseas arrival recovery compared to 2019.”

Highlights from VISIT FLORIDA’s latest visitation estimates include:

• For the first two quarters of 2023, Florida saw massive increases in overseas and Canadian visitation, up 21.8% and 81.1% respectively while domestic visitation saw a small drop of 1.1% during the same period.

• Total visitation for calendar year 2023 reached 70.8 million, an increase of 1.3% over the first six months of 2022 and 4.5% above 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

• For Q2 2023, Florida still saw significant quarterly increases with overseas visitation up 11% and Canadian visitation up 20.8% over Q2 2022. Domestic visitation was 4.6% above Q2 2019.

• Preliminary estimates indicate that 33.1 million total visitors travelled to Florida in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 2.6% from Q2 2019.

• Q2 2023 visitation is estimated at 30.3 million domestic visitors, 1.9 million international visitors, and 846,000 Canadian visitors.

• Domestic visitors accounted for 91.6% of visitors in Q2 2023, while overseas visitors were 5.9% and Canadian visitors were 2.6%.

• Preliminary data shows that for the second year in a row, Florida leads the US with largest market share of overseas visitors in 2022, which is only the second time ever that any state has had a larger share than New York.

Additionally, Florida is leading the nation in recovering the number of overseas travellers that visit Florida post pandemic with an 80% recovery rate in comparison to 2019 numbers, while New York follows behind at 75% and California at 68%. The national rate for overseas arrival also trails Florida at 73%.