Florida beach tourism is part of a statewide travel industry that welcomed 143.3 million visitors in 2025. Beach and waterfront activities were the leading activity among domestic visitors in 2024, while Florida’s parks, hotel network, airports, and coastal communities supported a broad tourism economy. The figures below separate annual and quarterly measurements, identify visitor origins, and distinguish statewide tourism data from beach-specific indicators.
Contents
- Florida visitation at a glance
- Beach activities and visitor interests
- Where Florida visitors come from
- Quarterly travel and airport activity
- Hotels, rooms, and tourism capacity
- Beaches, parks, and coastal assets
- Economic impact and coastal lodging taxes
Florida visitation at a glance
VISIT FLORIDA’s Research FAQ reported 143.3 million visitors to Florida in 2025. Domestic travelers accounted for 131.1 million of those visits, or 91.5% of the total. Overseas and Canadian markets together supplied 12.2 million visitors: 9.3 million from overseas markets and 2.9 million from Canada.
The 2024 year-end release recorded 142.9 million visitors, including 130.7 million domestic visitors, 8.9 million overseas visitors, and 3.3 million Canadian visitors. Domestic travelers represented 91.5% of 2024 visitation; overseas travelers represented 6.2%, and Canadian travelers represented 2.3%. The same release reported that total 2024 visitation was 1.6% above 2023, overseas visitation was 6.6% above 2023, and Canadian visitation was 1.2% above 2023.
These annual figures describe Florida tourism as a whole rather than beach trips alone. They are useful context because coastal destinations compete within the state’s larger visitor market, which also includes urban, theme-park, nature, and business travel.
| Measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total visitors | 142.9 million | 143.3 million |
| Domestic visitors | 130.7 million | 131.1 million |
| Overseas visitors | 8.9 million | 9.3 million |
| Canadian visitors | 3.3 million | 2.9 million |
| Domestic share | 91.5% | 91.5% |
Source: [VISIT FLORIDA Research FAQ] (source label supplied with the statistics). The 2024 values are from the [VISIT FLORIDA 2024 year-end release] (source label supplied with the statistics). No direct source URLs were supplied for these releases.
Beach activities and visitor interests
Beach or waterfront activities were the top reported activity among domestic visitors in 2024, chosen by 34% of that visitor group. That makes waterfront recreation the clearest beach-specific percentage in the supplied statewide tourism data.
Culinary and dining activities were selected by 23% of domestic visitors, and shopping was also selected by 23%. For overseas visitors, shopping was reported by 89% in 2024, sightseeing by 72%, and amusement and theme parks by 48%. The different activity profiles show why a beach destination can serve several travel purposes at once: waterfront time may be central for domestic trips, while international visitors may combine shopping, sightseeing, and attractions with coastal travel.
The activity percentages are participation measures for visitor groups, not shares of total spending or guaranteed shares of beach travelers. They should therefore be read as indicators of reported interests rather than as a count of individual beach visits.
Where Florida visitors come from
Domestic travel was the dominant source of Florida visitors in both 2024 and 2025. In 2024, Georgia supplied 9.0% of domestic visitors, New York supplied 8.7%, and Texas supplied 6.2%, according to the VISIT FLORIDA Research FAQ. Those origin shares help describe the importance of interstate travel to beach markets, especially for visitors who can reach Florida by road.
International markets added substantial volume. Canada was the top international origin market in 2025 with 2.9 million visitors. Brazil sent 1.3 million visitors, the United Kingdom sent 1.2 million, Colombia sent 655,000, and Mexico sent 613,000.
The 2025 transportation split also favored non-air access statewide: 40.7% of visitors arrived by air and 59.3% arrived by non-air means. That pattern is consistent with the large domestic component, although the statistic covers all Florida travel and does not isolate beach-bound trips.
Quarterly travel and airport activity
Quarterly releases show how visitor volume and travel modes changed between comparable periods. Florida received 34.2 million visitors in the second quarter of 2024: 31.5 million domestic, 2.0 million overseas, and 739,000 Canadian travelers. Domestic visitors represented 92.1% of that quarter’s total, overseas visitors 5.8%, and Canadian visitors 2.2%.
In the second quarter of 2025, Florida received 34.4 million visitors. Domestic travelers again totaled 31.5 million, while overseas travelers reached 2.3 million and Canadian travelers reached 640,000. The Q2 2025 shares were 91.5% domestic, 6.7% overseas, and 1.9% Canadian.
| Second-quarter measure | Q2 2024 | Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total visitors | 34.2 million | 34.4 million |
| Domestic visitors | 31.5 million | 31.5 million |
| Overseas visitors | 2.0 million | 2.3 million |
| Canadian visitors | 739,000 | 640,000 |
| Domestic share | 92.1% | 91.5% |
| Domestic air share | 38.1% | 37.7% |
| Domestic non-air share | 61.9% | 62.3% |
Source: [VISIT FLORIDA Q2 2024 release] and [VISIT FLORIDA Q2 2025 release] (source labels supplied with the statistics; direct URLs were not supplied).
Domestic air travelers made up 38.1% of domestic visitors in Q2 2024, compared with 37.7% in Q2 2025. Domestic non-air travelers represented 61.9% and 62.3%, respectively. Florida airports handled 29.2 million enplanements across 19 airports in Q2 2024 and 28.6 million across 19 commercial airports in Q2 2025. Orlando recorded 7.5 million Q2 2024 enplanements and Miami recorded 7.1 million. In Q2 2024, Panama City airport enplanements grew 20.1% and Tallahassee grew 16.6%. In Q2 2025, Punta Gorda grew 22.5% and St. Petersburg-Clearwater grew 14.0%.
Room demand at Florida hotels increased 0.9% in Q2 2024 and 1.2% in Q2 2025. The 2024 year-end release also reported that Florida’s 19 major airports grew enplanements 3.1% year over year in 2024, while annual room nights sold increased 1.6%.
Hotels, rooms, and tourism capacity
Florida’s statewide average hotel and motel occupancy rate was 68.1% in 2025, and the average daily hotel and motel room rate was $193.69. As of December 2025, the state had 507,282 hotel and motel rooms spread across 4,738 properties.
Those are statewide lodging measures, not beach-town averages. They nevertheless show the scale of accommodation capacity available to visitors who may include a coast in a longer Florida itinerary. The Q4 2024 year-end release reported that hotel occupancy rose 6.7% in the fourth quarter, adding a seasonal indicator alongside the annual occupancy and rate figures.
The accommodation base matters for interpreting visitor totals. A large number of visitors does not mean every traveler stayed in a coastal hotel, and the statewide average daily rate should not be treated as a quoted rate for any specific beach community, date, or property.
Beaches, parks, and coastal assets
Florida State Parks reports 100 miles of beaches. Its beaches and coasts information identifies Grayton Beach State Park and Caladesi Island State Park as beaches recognized by Dr. Beach in 2018 as among the nation’s top beaches.
John D. MacArthur Beach State Park has more than 3,000 nests a year, according to Florida State Parks. That figure connects beach tourism with coastal habitat and wildlife interest, although it is a nesting measure rather than a visitor count.
The Florida Keys has the third-largest reef system in the world, according to the same Florida State Parks source. The reef statistic identifies an important marine attraction but does not provide a tourism attendance estimate.
Florida’s broader protected-area inventory includes 175 state parks, 35 state forests, and 11 national parks, preserves, seashores, or monuments. The state also has three national forests and one national scenic trail. These counts are not beach counts, but they help explain the range of outdoor destinations that can complement coastal travel.
Economic impact and coastal lodging taxes
VISIT FLORIDA’s 2024 economic impact release estimated that Florida’s tourism industry generated $133.6 billion in economic impact. Out-of-state visitor spending reached $134.9 billion, including $120.1 billion from American visitors and $14.8 billion from international visitors.
Tourism directly and indirectly supported 1.8 million Florida jobs in 2024, while tourism-generated wages totaled $79.9 billion. Tourism-related activity produced $33.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Travel and tourism accounted for 7.8% of Florida’s nominal gross state product.
The release said each visitor dollar kept 99 cents in Florida’s economy, with 59 cents supporting worker salaries. It also reported that tourism reduced the tax burden on Florida households: without tourism, households would pay $1,730 more annually in state and local taxes. The study described nearly $2,000 in tourism tax savings per household across 9.1 million households and said tourism supported more than 9 million households in Florida.
Coastal lodging costs also reflect local transient rental taxes. The Florida Department of Revenue’s DR-15TDT lists a local option transient rental tax rate as high as 7.0% in Miami Beach. Broward, Miami-Dade’s general rate, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Volusia counties each have a 6.0% rate listed in the supplied data. Monroe, Bay, and some Walton County areas have 5.0% rates, while Walton County lists 2.0% for the rest of the county. Nassau County’s 5.0% rate applies only to Amelia Island, and Bay County’s 5.0% rate applies only to specified beach ZIP codes and the Bay County portion of ZIP code 32413.
These tax rates are local lodging-tax measures, not statewide beach fees or total charges on every trip. The applicable geography matters: a rate can differ within a county, as the Walton, Nassau, and Bay County entries demonstrate.