Orange County tourism gets economic boost after months of declining dollars

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After five months of declining tourism tax dollars, Orange County is seeing a slight improvement for September.

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“We finished a little bit less than 1% up,” said Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond. “Hopefully, this is a sign that things will improve.”

That increase means the county took in over $359 million for fiscal year 2022/2023.

“That is the most we’ve ever done in Orange County,” said Diamond.

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Diamond attributed that success to the spike in tourists following the pandemic.

“This year, we just had record after record after record because Florida was the only game in town,” said Diamond.

But then things started to level out, with the post-pandemic rush fading.

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“Whether you’re talking about cruise lines, or other countries, or other states, or other attractions, they opened up and people had more choices on where they would go.”

Despite that, it was still a record-breaking year, with that tax money now set to go towards improving the tourism industry, Central Florida’s largest employer, and hopefully creating continued draw year after year.

“It’s something we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Diamond.

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