tourism

Norwegian Cruise Line canceled voyages on eight cruise ships, nearly half its fleet, after one of its ships on Wednesday returned early to Miami due to a COVID-19 outbreak among crew members.

Saying the world is entering a time of uncertainty, members of the state Economic Estimating Conference agreed Monday to slightly lower expectations through the middle of 2022 for Canadian and overseas travelers, as the panel looked at various aspects of the Florida economy.

Key West locals who voted for limits on the cruise industry gathered with signs saying "stop the silt" and "no big ships" as the Norwegian Dawn pulled in.

Cruise ships recently returned to Key West. The big ships once brought nearly a million people a year to the island. In late March of last year, the pandemic put a stop to cruising. Since then, even though the ships weren't calling, cruising has been a hot topic on the island.

The recent emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant presents another potential hurdle as the tourism industry prepares for the upcoming winter holiday season.

The Key West Airport has already shattered its record, with more than a million passengers this year. The airport director says a planned new concourse will fix crowding problems. It's scheduled to open in late 2024.

The job market is strong in South Florida. Offices are reopening and COVID-19 vaccines are available. So what pandemic policies are companies putting in place?

Fantasy Fest usually brings tens of thousands of people to the island, culminating in a big Saturday night parade. Organizers announced Monday that the parade, along with street fairs, are canceled this year.

Florida attracted 31.7 million visitors in the second quarter of this year, as the state continued to expand tourism-marketing efforts and COVID-19 vaccinations became readily available. The total was a 16.3 percent improvement from the first three months of the year and was 223.4 percent above the second quarter of 2020.

Economic and vaccination links to the U.S. have helped the U.S. Virgin Islands critical tourism sector recover robustly — but it now faces COVID's delta threat.

Tourists are visiting national parks and surrounding public lands in record numbers this summer, which is causing some overwhelmed national park gateway towns to rethink their promotion strategies.

The annual two-day lobster mini season is controversial in the Florida Keys — and sometimes dangerous. This year there are some new efforts to make things safer for lobster hunters and the environment.