June 9, 2023

Hello,

To stimulate summer travel demand and grow visitation to Orlando, your Visit Orlando team is highlighting summer deals across the destination by promoting Fantastic Summer Savings.

Launched on May 22, the promotion will drive traffic to VisitOrlando.com/offers, which lists more than 70 member deals at Orlando's theme parks & attractions, hotels and experiences beyond the parks. It will run through August 15 on Visit Orlando's owned and earned channels, and in paid media, including digital, video and social advertising.

To help promote these exclusive offers, we partnered with travel companies—Expedia, Priceline, Kayak and Tripadvisor—and Frontier Airlines. The promotion will appear in digital and paid social advertisements to boost the summer flight deals to Orlando and the summer sweepstakes.

In addition, on June 1, we collaborated with iHeartMedia to highlight Orlando deals on its popular iHeartRadio! Access Day—a day that provides its listeners access to hundreds of special prizes.

The team has also been sharing the deals and reasons to visit this summer with media, securing coverage in top publications including Travel + Leisure, MSN, Yahoo and a syndicated story in Nerd Wallet running in more than 170 media outlets nationwide.
 

A Recap of Visit Orlando at IPW 2023!

Visit Orlando attended U.S. Travel Association's IPW, the nation's largest travel trade show. Watch this video highlighting our activities.

Orlando's Celebration of Pride Month

In celebration of Pride Month, Orlando has many activities and events available, including an interactive map of where everything will occur. We're also sharing how in Orlando, diversity thrives and acceptance shines across our social media channels like these posts on Instagram and Facebook. Also, this past weekend, Visit Orlando team members partnered with iHeartMedia on a parade float at the Dallas Pride Parade. For more information about LGBTQ+ tourism in Orlando and this year's Pride Month activities and events, check out our Pride Month blog.

April 2023 TDT Collections

Orange County's Tourist Development Tax (TDT) collections for April came in at $33.6 million—a 3.5% decrease compared to April 2022. This is the first monthly year-over-year decrease since February 2021. However, they were higher than April 2021 collections by $16.6 million.

Orange County government designates TDT funds for specific purposes, including promoting tourism, the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), sports stadiums and arenas, performing arts venues and museums.

Hotel Metrics

Metro Orlando occupancy for the week ending June 3, 2023, was 62.3%, down from last week's 66.4% and down 9.9% from the same week last year. The Average Daily Rate for the week was $175.73, down 3.2% from last year.

Around the Destination

State of Orange County: Today, Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings delivered his 2023 State of the County message at the Orange County Convention Center, sharing a forward look at how to take the community to the next level. Mayor Demings spoke on the government's priorities, including transportation infrastructure, the Citizens Safety Task Force, workforce programs, Orange County's response to Hurricane Ian and more. Watch the State of the County here.

Leadership Forum: District 3 Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe held the annual Community Leadership Forum this past Saturday. Visit Orlando's senior corporate counsel & VP of external affairs, Stan Rubins, provided an overview of Visit Orlando, including our role as a destination marketing organization and the Orlando region's global brand Unbelievably Real. Thank you, Commissioner Uribe, for inviting our team to share more about Visit Orlando.

Premiere Orlando: The Orange County Convention Center recently hosted nearly 57,000 attendees for Premiere Orlando, the annual convention that inspires education from the best beauty experts and top exhibiting companies.

Visit Orlando Engaged!

WebBeds Partner Summit: Visit Orlando partnered with WebBeds, a leading accommodation wholesaler, for its IMPACT Summit at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The summit—which united over 200 Visit Orlando hotel members—shared insights on international source market trends and strategies for inbound travel. Visit Orlando's chief sales officer, Mike Waterman, delivered an update on visitation numbers and Visit Orlando's international trade and consumer marketing efforts.
 
Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance: Visit Orlando team members participated in the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance's Legislative Action Day at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to advocate for the travel and tourism industry—reduce visitor visa wait times and help build our country's future skilled workforce.

In the News

WSJ: Visit Florida for the food?

MSN: Wheelchair lift increases accessibility to Lake Eola swan boats

Southern Living: The dreamiest towns for antique shopping in Florida

Orlando Business Journal: Podcast: Visit Orlando CEO Casandra Matej calls 2023 history-setting

Travel Weekly: Visit Orlando introduces new course for travel advisors