PLANT CITY, Fla. — Summer tourism in Florida hit a record pace this year, with nearly 35 million people visiting the state from July to September, Visit Florida announced this week.

According to information from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office, the Third Quarter preliminary estimates from Visit Florida showed a 1.8% increase from 2023, making it the "highest visitation on record for a third quarter."

What You Need To Know

  • The state of Florida says nearly 35 million people visited our state this summer for vacation

  • According to Visit Florida, it's a record setting amount of visitors during this period of time

  • Locally, spots like Dinosaur World say they had to briefly close because of Hurricane Milton but are now fully open and are welcoming numerous guests daily

Despite the record tourism numbers, Dinosaur World spokesperson Dallas Cotton said Hurricanes Helene and Milton put a damper on visitors at the tail end of the summer.

“Milton hit, and it was devastating for us,” Cotton said, explaining that water got up above 6 feet in some places. 

The flooding didn’t slow things down for long, though, he said.

“We opened within the first couple of days because we were like, ‘We really feel like people are itching to get out,’” Cotton said.

While other portions of the park were closed, they were able to open up some parts at a discounted price, before ultimately opening the rest of the park after about six days.

“We had a great day that day,” Cotton said. “And people were just saying like, ‘Thank you for letting us get out. Thank you for letting us actually get out and do things.’”

But he said tourism has been the concern for many businesses in the area after the storms.

“It’s really hard for us to look at the numbers and say, like, was this good? Could it have been way worse? Probably,” Cotton said. “Florida as a whole, it doesn’t matter where you are. If one community is hurting in the tourism industry, we’re all going to hurt.”

Considering the amount of tourism the state saw over the summer, Cotton said he expected businesses like his to make up for the lull caused by Helene and Milton. 

“Everybody’s going to bounce back,” he said. “Everyone’s going to come back after these devastations and these hurricanes, and we want to be ready, when everyone does.”

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to Visit St. Pete/Clearwater to see if they saw the same increase in tourism as the state overall during the summer.

Representatives from St. Pete and Clearwater were asked if they saw the same increase in tourism as the state overall during the summer. They said that because of the storm, the governor extended their tax filing deadline, so they don’t have those numbers ready to release just yet.

Officials at Visit Tampa Bay said hotel stays in October generated a nearly 4% increase in tourism development taxes from the previous year, making it the highest amount collected for that month in Hillsborough County history.