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Third Quarter Visitation Number Equals 19.8 Million

NEWS RELEASE TOPIC:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2008

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Preliminary estimates* of visitors to Florida for the third quarter of 2008 (July-September), released by VISIT FLORIDA®, the official tourism marketing corporation for the state of Florida, show an estimated 19.8 million people visited the Sunshine State. These estimates reflect a visitor decrease of 3.2 percent over the same period last year or a loss of 651,000 visitors.

VISIT FLORIDA also reports that 12 of the 14 airports showed declines in enplanements by 5.5 percent in the third quarter this year. Domestic visitors declined by 3.8 percent, reaching just more than 18.1 million. In-state travel was up 0.3 percent with more than 3.8 million travelers.

On a positive note, overseas travel in the third quarter of 2008 increased by 3.0 percent, bringing the number of overseas visitors to Florida to 1,275,000. Canadian travel to Florida during the same period reflected a 6.9 percent increase. Together these accounted for an additional 60,000 international visitors compared to the third quarter in 2008.

“Clearly, the combined effects of high gas prices, hurricane activity and a softening economy have impacted tourism negatively for the third quarter,” said Richard Goldman, VISIT FLORIDA’s Chairman of the Board and the Chief Marketing Officer of Amelia Island Plantation. “We know that Florida is one of the world’s most desired travel destinations, but in anticipation of more economic challenges for our nation, we will have to intensify our marketing efforts in order to sustain Florida’s tourism industry.”

Travel-related employment in Florida was up 1.7 percent in the third quarter of 2008 over the same period last year, with 993,100 Floridians employed in Florida’s tourism industry.

The year-to-date third quarter numbers show that 65.8 million people have visited the Sunshine State, which translates into a 0.9 percent increase for the first nine months of 2008 compared to the year before.

*Preliminary estimates are issued 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Final estimates are released when final data are received for all estimates in the report.

VISIT FLORIDA is the official tourism marketing corporation for the state of Florida. VISIT FLORIDA promotes tourism to Florida through sales, advertising, promotions, public relations, new product development and visitor services programs. As a public/private partnership VISIT FLORIDA has more than 3,400 tourism industry Partners and four major strategic alliances with American Express Travel Related services, AirTran Airways, Dollar Rent A Car and The Hertz Corporation. To learn more about VISIT FLORIDA, visit www.VISITFLORIDA.org.