tourism

Visit Florida reported an estimated 39.89 million people journeyed to the state between January 1 and March 31, down 1% from the first quarter of 2025.

Visit Florida President and CEO Bryan Griffin said the tourism marketing agency is in line to receive $80 million from the state in draft budgets for fiscal year 2026-2027 now before the Senate and House – the same level as the current year.

The Citrus Commission approved a $250,000 contract with Visit Florida to maintain its welcome center.

The city of Ushuaia in Argentina, which bills itself as the "end of the world," has found itself at the center of a global media storm involving a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise that departed from its port. Tourism operators and officials are scrambling to stem fallout from the nautical nightmare that they fear could cause foreigners to reconsider their Antarctic cruise plans.

Days before the April 1 oral arguments on a birthright citizenship case, Trump railed against birthright citizenship with talking points that the longstanding practice of granting automatic citizenship to U.S.-born babies is abused by wealthy foreigners, was meant for the children of enslaved people, and that the U.S. is an outlier. Time for a fact-check.

Regional tourism was softening as 2025 came to to end. The new year appears to have started off with renewed interest by visitors to come to South Florida. And they're paying up to stay overnight, especially in Miami-Dade County.

With an upcoming FIFA World Cup being staged across the nation, 2026 was supposed to be a bumper year for tourism to the United States, driven in part by hordes of arriving soccer fans. And yet, the U.S. tourism industry is worried.

Tourism in Florida is growing, though the increases are held back by Canadians continuing to stay away from the Sunshine State. About a half million fewer may have visited the state last year.

Visit Florida reports a slight increase between July and September despite fewer Canadian tourists amid tensions between the countries.

Proponents argue the bill would increase tourism and business investment, while detractor balked at the high costs of a name change.

If the Broward delegation fails to approve the bill, it will not be heard by lawmakers in Tallahassee once the legislative session begins in January.

A small drop in international visitors to Miami-Dade County was driven by declines in trips from Colombia and Canada. Visits from New York and Chicago – the top two cities for visitors from other states – also fell.