With summer travel season in full swing, your Visit Orlando team is hard at work creating helpful content for itinerary planning and inspiration to broaden our visitors’ perspective of our destination.
From legendary theme parks and attractions, unique neighborhoods, outdoor adventures, fine dining venues, shopping options and more, for summer travelers, we aim to share new ideas to enhance their vacation experience.
We achieve this through partnerships, publishing creative content that features our entire destination and creating marketing campaigns like our latest unveiling of our region’s new global brand, Unbelievably Real.
Also, to keep Orlando top of mind, we’ve developed a network of local content creators who take an active approach in spotlighting all areas of our destination through personal storytelling that we share with our millions of followers on our social media channels. For example, watch Sam and Jose explore the Mills 50 District in this video and Ricky Ly highlight Asian restaurant Twenty Pho Hour on Instagram.
Like me, I know many of you will be hosting family vacationing to our area this summer. We encourage you to share our free Vacation Planning Services that provide expert advice and even personalized itinerary planning. They can connect with Visit Orlando's vacation planning experts via phone, email and live chat. These services complement our other planning and booking resources including our Visit Orlando App, discounted theme park attraction and experience tickets from Visit Orlando powered by BestofOrlando.com and Visit Orlando’s Plan Your Vacation Facebook group. With many options to explore during summer in Orlando, our vacation planning resources remove the stress of planning giving guidance on accommodations, transportation, dining and entertainment.
May TDT Collections
A key indicator for our destination's recovery, Orange County Tourist Development Tax (TDT) collections for the month of May came in at $28 million — a 65.8% increase over May 2021, $26.9 million higher than May 2020 collections and the highest May recorded for Orlando.
TDT revenue, which originates from a 6% levy on short-term lodging, is a vital funding stream for the Orange County Convention Center, tourism promotion, and sports and cultural venues.
May's TDT success can be attributed to a combination of healthy demand, strong average daily rates, record-breaking MEGACON attendance and a busy Memorial Day weekend.
Weekly lodging results: For the week ending July 2, 2022, Metro Orlando occupancy was 75.5%, down from last week's 80%, but on par with the same week in 2019 (75.4%). Average daily rate fell to $145.10, down from $150.80 for the prior week, but still up significantly from the same week in 2019 ($111.23).
Rediscover Orlando Campaign with Frontier Airlines
This summer, Visit Orlando has partnered with Frontier Airlines on a joint marketing campaign to boost last minute travel to Orlando and help fill need periods during the upcoming shoulder season. The “Rediscover Orlando” campaign includes a low fare Orlando promotion that launched in June and an Orlando trip giveaway sweepstakes focused on Downtown Orlando launching next week to encourage visitors to explore more of Orlando. Running through mid-August in key joint priority markets, the digital program will include digital display, paid social and email promotion driving to a dedicated Orlando landing page with an estimated 22 million impressions.
Canadian Family Travel Experts Tout Orlando
As interest resumes from our Canadian visitors, Visit Orlando has deployed continuous PR initiatives to drive demand, generating a variety of broadcast coverage spanning from TV to radio on what’s new in Orlando and reasons to visit. Two Canadian moms and travel experts recently visited the destination on separate trips and spoke about their experiences on-air, which included coverage in Hamilton’s CHCH Morning Live and Global News Network, both located in the key province of Ontario. If you have an interest in hosting media from the Canadian market, please email media@visitorlando.com.
Industry Award Nominees
Remember to vote for Orlando nominations in the 2022 World Travel Awards. Visit Orlando and a few of our member companies represent categories that include North America’s Leading: “City Destination,” “Airport” and “Tourist Board.” They include:
VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors Update: Recently, I was appointed as a member of the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors. I’m honored to work alongside industry professionals to achieve the purpose, mission and vision of VISIT FLORIDA while positively impacting our industry and the state of Florida. Thank you, VISIT FLORIDA, Department of Economic Opportunity and Enterprise Florida for this opportunity.
Team Appreciation Lunch: DT Minich, president and CEO of Experience Kissimmee, visited our office on Wednesday to host a thank you lunch as an appreciation from a successful IPW. Our entire team at Visit Orlando is thankful for Experience Kissimmee’s hospitality.
Orange County Office of Emergency Management: Last week, we met with the Orange County Emergency Management team to share information about Visit Orlando’s role in our community and discuss ways we can partner to serve as a liaison for the tourism industry. Thank you, Chief Lauraleigh Avery, for requesting this meeting. Norse Atlantic Airways' First Flight: Earlier this week, I visited Orlando International Airport to join their officials and senior executives from Norse Atlantic Airways to celebrate Scandinavian carrier’s inaugural flight from Orlando to Oslo, Norway. This was a great opportunity to see the first flight take off from our destination. The new non-stop flight will operate three times per week. Learn more here.
