Orlando was the largest U.S. travel and tourism city destination in 2022 with an economic contribution of over $31 billion, representing 20 percent of the city’s total GDP and recovering above 2019 levels by $2.7 billion—that’s according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Visit Orlando announced that 74 million visitors came to Orlando in 2022, and with a 25% increase in visitors over 2021, Orlando maintains its leadership position as America's most-visited destination. Plus, by reaching 74 million visitors in 2022, Orlando achieved 98% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels.

The visitation uptick comes off the back of Visit Orlando's new Unbelievably Real brand launch, first introduced in May 2022 to domestic visitors followed by an international marketing campaign in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru. The comprehensive campaigns reached 54% of Orlando's target market households and generated more than $8 billion in additional future direct visitor spending equating to $359 in visitor spending for each dollar of media spent.

In 2022, domestic leisure visitation completely recovered and reached a new record at 61 million, while U.S. business visitation is still in recovery mode:

United States:

International visitation recovered to 75% of pre-pandemic, reaching 4.9 million in 2022. Canada, UK and Brazil were the top three international origin markets;

• Canada: 860,700
• United Kingdom: 809,000
• Brazil: 575,000
• Mexico: 394,000
• Colombia: 287,000

January’s 2023 numbers are in and Orlando International Airport (MCO) started the year with an 86 percent increase in international traffic. Domestic traffic climbed by nearly 27 percent.

“We started the year trending in the right direction,” says Kevin Thibault, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “More airlines are offering more international service and domestic traffic hit an all-time record high in January when compared on a rolling 12-month basis.”

International service into MCO in January increased from the following airlines; Air Canada; Spirit; WestJet; Azul; JetBlue; AeroMexico; Air Transat; GOL; Delta; Copa and Southwest.

January 2023 Statistical Data:

- International traffic jumped 85.95 percent in January which amounts to 556,533 total arrivals and departures.

- Domestic passenger traffic increased 26.71 percent with 4,026,593 total passengers at MCO for the month.

- Combined, overall traffic was up 31.81 percent in January with a total of 4,583,126 passengers at Orlando International Airport for the month.

Spring Break 2023 Update

Spring Break 2023 at Orlando International saw six passenger traffic records broken. On Saturday, March 11th MCO recorded 95,282 departures, breaking the old single day record of 90,808 set in March of 2019. During this period, Saturday was the second busiest in airport history with 93,801 departures, while Sunday was the third busiest with 93,662.

- Spring Break 2023, MCO exceeded expectations by approximately 159,000 passengers.

- Spring Break 2023 ran from March 4 until April 18th.

- In the first two weeks of Spring Break 2023 an estimated 2.7 million passengers traveled through MCO.

Orlando reached a host of new milestones in 2022 including:

- 2022 number of U.S. visitors: 74 million (+25.1% YoY) - *VisitOrlando

- 2021 number of international visitors: 4.90 million (+134.4% YoY) - *VisitOrlando

- Airline arrivals: Orlando International Airport (OIA) continues to operate at record levels, with 51.29 million passengers (+22.46% YoY) - *Greater

Orlando Aviation Authority

- International airline arrivals: OIA’s international arrivals reached 6.6 million passengers (+11.64%) - *Greater Orlando Aviation Authority