Florida reports record number of visitors in 2012

Published: 02:23:20 PM, Tue 19 February 2013 UTC

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's tourism marketing corporation is reporting a record 89.3 million visitors came to the state in 2012.

Officials said Monday that the number of visitors in Florida last year represented an increase of 2.3 percent over 2011 when 87.3 million people visited.

VISIT FLORIDA — the state's quasi-public marketing arm — estimated in its annual report that 10.2 million overseas visitors and 3.6 million Canadians came to the Sunshine State in 2012. The firms said tourism- and recreation-related taxable sales increased 6.9 percent.

The agency reported the number of domestic visitors to Florida increased by 1.2 percent while more than 20 million Floridians took vacations inside the state's borders.

Tourism is one of Florida's most important economic drivers with more than 1 million people employed in a variety of industry-related jobs.

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