Hands up those who have been to Orlando multiple times….(pause for counting)….Yes, we thought so. That’s quite a lot of you. And, on current trends, we are looking at a big increase for the first time since the pandemic put everything on hold here.
It’s probably no surprise to those of you who are regular visitors, but this corner of Central Florida simply holds special appeal for many UK visitors, and it keeps people coming back year after year.
We’re obviously delighted to see it, and not just because it always provides someone new to talk to! No, we’re mainly pleased for Orlando itself because it shows what a reliable and consistent job it does in providing a holiday playground like no other, something which we are always ready to applaud.
Take the very latest tourist visitation figures from the Visit Orlando marketing organisation, which is basically the city’s “shop window” for the international vacation business. At a special gala lunch last week, co-hosted by the hilarious Blue Man Group (who will stage their big return to Orlando later this year), last year’s numbers came in loud and proud:
2024 Total Visitation: 75,333,800.
Domestic visitors: 68,840,300.
International visitors: 6,493,500.
UK visitors: 907,900.
That main headline figure is gaudy enough, with more than 75 million total visitors to The City Beautiful, a 1.8 per cent increase on 2023, when we already thought we had packed as many people as possible into the Theme Park Capital of the World. And, when you consider the population of Metro Orlando is only 2.9 million, that’s a LOT of “guests” to welcome each year! By comparison, New York chalked up around 65 million last year, putting Orlando ahead by a cool 10 million. Not bad for a little Florida town, hey?
But then the international figures are even more interesting, especially for Britain. Back in 2019 (prior to the pandemic), the UK annual total was a whopping 1,029,000, which represented the biggest intake for many years – only for Covid to put a major spoke in the works and effectively put international holidaymakers on hold until November 2021.
It has been a big challenge to restore those numbers in the past three years, but with the figure topping 900,000 – up 3.5 per cent year-on-year – for the first time since 2019, that is a substantial number of extra Brits in town, many of whom are repeat visitors.
Visit Orlando always likes to highlight its UK numbers for the simple reason that we come for longer (around 12.5 days on average, compared to the average US visit, which is usually 4.5 days) and we spend more while we’re here (it’s that whole holiday-of-a-lifetime thing, which soon morphs into “Let’s go again!”).
Certainly, we’re seeing more people booking villa holidays than ever, and the airlines who offer direct flights to Orlando International Airport are all doing well, which are two of the prime indicators for a healthy tourism flow. But, all those people who have never been and may be only just considering the possibility of an Orlando holiday in 2025, they might be wondering, “What’s all the fuss about Orlando?”
And we have the answer. After more than 30 years of visiting, exploring and writing about this particular piece of the Sunshine State, we have several cast-iron reasons why this is such a special destination, one that starts out with people thinking they’ll make it a one-off occasion for that really special holiday – and end up coming back every two or three years (if not an annual pilgrimage). Those reasons can be summed up in five main categories, which we can explain as follows:
Reliability: You know what you’re going to get from Orlando, and it rarely fails to hit a very high benchmark for ensuring everyone has a wonderful time, every time. The theme parks all deliver an extremely high standard, and every other business tries to live up to it, which usually makes for the perfect holiday environment.
Consistency: From one year to the next, there is no let-up in standards, and no drop-off in the experience. Disney is always going to be Disney and Universal will always be Universal. The hotels and villas will maintain their level of uniformity and there are never any surprises when it comes to the year-by-year environment. Orlando is 100 per cent uniform in its scope, and, when it comes to holidays, that’s a good thing..
Value for money: While this is not a cheap holiday by any means, we rarely hear that people don’t get full value for their tourism dollar. The UK market actually gets the best VFM from the theme parks tickets as we benefit from the typical two-week tickets that are designed expressly for British visitors (when bought in advance – they are NOT available in Orlando itself), and that definitely helps to off-set the per-day cost.
Efficiency: With just the occasional glitch (yes, I-4, we are looking at you!), everything works in Orlando. From the drive-through fast food options to the massive car parks, this is somewhere that you can count on to be efficient and tourist-friendly, as just about everything is designed with our visitors in mind. Now, if the US would just drive on the correct side of the road….!
Something new: This is probably Orlando’s X-Factor, over and above most other destinations. There is ALWAYS something new, refreshed or reimagined to look forward to and anticipate, which gives it guaranteed return appeal. Each year, the parks provide a major new attraction or three, while there are always new restaurants to try and shops to peruse. Take this year, for example. Virtually everyone is eagerly looking forward to Universal’s Epic Universe park (and, if you haven’t seen Amy’s latest blog about it – Secret Tips & Fun Facts – you’ll find it on this link), and the Return of Blue Man Group, while SeaWorld has opened Expedition Odyssey and LEGOLAND Florida is about to unveil its SEA LIFE attraction, among other new fascinations. So, be sure to stay tuned for The Next Big Thing!
Are you a regular Orlando visitor? Tell us what keeps you coming back time after time on the friendly AttractionTickets.com Community Facebook page, on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.
