A new research report from VISIT FLORIDA outlines how COVID-19 has heavily impacted travel to Florida during the second quarter of 2020.
According to VISIT FLORIDA, Florida saw 12.8 million total visitors during 2020’s second quarter, which is a -60.5% decrease compared to last year. Domestic travelers accounted for 98.1%, or 12.6 million, of Florida’s total visitors while international travel is almost entirely halted.
Of the 12.6 million domestic visitors, 8.7% traveled by air. This is a -85.2% drop from last year. Occupancy of Florida hotels decreased -55% from last year and the average daily rate decreased -29.1%.
These dramatic decreases happened while most Florida destinations, including Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort, were closed. Without these big draws and with air travel restricted, it makes sense that tourism decreased.
These numbers are just preliminary and VISIT FLORIDA will update them as more data becomes available.