Florida Tourism Hits Record Level
Last night I read an article published by News Service of Florida, whose timely articles and analysis I always enjoy. I mostly pay attention to their articles on insurance-related issues, legislative events, Florida politics and similar issues relating to being a member of a capital-based law firm serving regulated industries. However, this article caught my attention for a different reason– the significant increase in tourism in Florida last year, and what that might signal for our economy.
According to the article, about 86 million people visited Florida last year according to preliminary estimates. If the estimates are correct, this would be a new record for the number of tourists visting our state. In turn, this might be an indication that the worst of the economic downturn for Florida, and the rest of the country, might be over. This also would be a very encouraging rebound from 2010, when the BP oil spill in the Gulf created an economic crisis in Florida’s coastal communities, threatening tourism, the fishing industry and all of those who serve in those areas.
The article reports that the number of visitors in 2011 would surpass the previous record of 84.5 million visitors in 2007. According to VisitFlorida, travel-related employment rose to a near record high of more than 1 million jobs, growing 3.9 percent over 2010.
So what does this have to do with an insurance blog? Maybe not much, but Florida does rely on tourism to generate nearly a one-fourth of its sales tax revenue, and the tourism industry employs a million people. Florida, like other states, has seen its revenues decline in recent years. This puts financial strain on families, and it also affects decisionmaking by the legislature and state government. An economic slowdown is a downward spiral, when fewer jobs mean less spending, which leads to corporate cutbacks, which in turn produces still fewer jobs, and so on. Let’s hope the same is true on the rebound– increased tourism leads to more jobs, and more spending creates more opportunity.
In any event, the peril of the oil spill in 2010, coupled with the broader economic slowdown, created widespread concern throughout our state, so the return of record numbers of visitors certainly is good news.