Landing the Olympic Q‑Series, securing an NFL season in Orlando and building momentum ahead of the FIFA World Cup™ underscore how Visit Orlando works collaboratively with partners and community leaders to attract, support and promote sports for our destination.

These wins do not happen by chance; it’s a team effort. They reflect a focused, long-term strategy to position Orlando as a competitive, global sports destination — one that can win highly contested bids, support major events and deliver high-quality experiences to athletes, fans and organizers from all over the world.

At Visit Orlando, this work is driven by collaboration. Strong partnerships with Greater Orlando Sports, Florida Citrus Sports, Orange County, the City of Orlando and organizations across the region allow Orlando to compete for prestigious sporting events, many of which take years to secure. This work is balanced across long-term planning, strategic partnerships and shared goals.

We support the full lifecycle of sports events — from bidding and planning to promotion and delivery.

Orlando’s selection as one of just four major global cities to host the Olympic Q Series 2028 — alongside Tokyo, Shanghai and Montreal— reflects the success of this approach. Our destination will welcome elite international athletes May–June 2028 as they compete for spots in the LA28 Summer Olympic Games in 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, climbing, flag football and skateboarding.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 this summer, our team developed a campaign positioning Orlando as the perfect World Cup companion city through a targeted landing page and by supporting the Orlando City Soccer Celebration presented by Verizon — a large-scale, festival-style fan experience at Pointe Orlando.

The event runs June 11–July 19 and will feature live viewings of all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches, along with live music and entertainment, global food and beverage offerings, an official pop‑up store, and special appearances by Orlando City players, club legends and Orlando City team mascot Kingston.

Additionally, in July, we will welcome a record‑setting event: the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Volleyball National Championship. The event brings more than 300,000 attendees annually to the Orange County Convention Center.

Looking ahead, our collaborative efforts helped secure an NFL season in Orlando, with Camping World Stadium approved as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ temporary home for the 2027 season, bringing national exposure and increased visitation.

When fans and athletes fill stadiums, arenas and convention center halls, they represent more than just sport spectators and competitors. They are visitors staying in hotels, dining in restaurants and exploring our attractions — reinforcing how sports tourism drives visitation, supports our economy and creates opportunities for our community.

VISIT FLORIDA Domestic Sales Mission

Visit Orlando joined several Florida destination marketing organizations on VISIT FLORIDA’s annual domestic sales mission to Texas, connecting with more than 125 travel advisors in Houston and Dallas. The program featured a trade show-style marketplace paired with an interactive training experience designed to drive near-term bookings and long-term awareness.

Texas continues to emerge as a key growth market for Orlando, with flight searches from Dallas and Houston to Orlando up more than 50% between January and April 2026. VISIT FLORIDA’s domestic sales missions directly connect industry partners with top U.S. travel advisors, tour operators and wholesalers to support visitation statewide.

Orlando Welcomes Top Tour Operators From Argentina

Juan Toselli International Tours, one of Argentina’s longest-established B2B tour operators, brought 36 top-producing travel agencies to Orlando as part of its broader U.S. market engagement. During the visit, Visit Orlando hosted a marketplace with 14 members.

The visit coincided with the launch of Toselli Bootcamp, a new seven-night immersive training program. The program combines intensive destination education with firsthand exposure to Orlando hotels and attractions, equipping top travel advisors with practical, up-to-date tools to promote Orlando as a fully integrated destination and drive incremental sales from Argentina.

Data & Trends

Weekly Hotel Metrics

Metro Orlando’s hotel occupancy rate for the week ending May 9, 2026, was 72%, up 3.7% from the same week last year. Room night demand surpassed last year by 4.1%. The Average Daily Rate (ADR) for the week was $224.63, up 2.7% from last year.

Orlando’s strong year-over-year performance was helped by UCF’s Spring commencement, which occurred one week later this year, as well as the addition of the Rolling Loud music festival, which relocated to Orlando after previously being held in Miami. 

Across the Industry

Visit Orlando Named Finalist in PR Daily Awards

Visit Orlando has been named a finalist in PR Daily’s Social Media & Digital Awards in the Influencer Campaign category for an initiative created to support our Moments in Between campaign with popular influencer-photographer Happy2Find. The recognition highlights an approach that moved beyond traditional destination marketing to focus on the unscripted, emotional moments that define an Orlando vacation.

The collaboration supported the global launch of Moments in Between, an evolution of Visit Orlando’s Unbelievably Real platform centered on authentic human connection. Known for candid portraiture and conversational video, Happy2Find was brought on-site to capture spontaneous interactions with real visitors across multiple Orlando locations, including Lake Eola Park, ICON Park and Universal CityWalk. The resulting short-form videos and portraits were co-posted across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.

In its first month, the content generated more than 21 million impressions, more than 160,000 organic engagements and more than 20 million video views without paid amplification, demonstrating the impact of emotionally led, creator-driven storytelling.

Finalists will be recognized, and winners will be announced on June 18.

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Around the Destination

$11.6 Million Raised For Arts & Culture

United Arts of Central Florida’s 33rd annual Collaborative Campaign for the Arts raised $11.6 million, surpassing its $10 million goal and marking the most successful campaign in its history. Representatives from 45 local arts, science and history nonprofits gathered May 7 at the Orlando Museum of Art to recognize the milestone.

Running from December 2025 through April 2026, the campaign directs 100% of funds to partner organizations that drive economic impact, expand arts education and strengthen community connections across Central Florida. Congratulations to United Arts on this major accomplishment!

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Ucf Rosen College, Universal Launch Universal School Of Experience Leadership And Innovation

The University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management and Universal Destinations & Experiences have launched the Universal School of Experience Leadership and Innovation, introducing a new academic model focused on immersive and experience-driven industries. Supported by a $10 million investment and a long-standing partnership, the school integrates storytelling, technology, business strategy and operations into a single learning framework, preparing students to connect creative vision with real-world execution across global experience environments.

Congratulations to UCF Rosen College and Universal Destinations & Experiences on this collaboration to introduce a school designed to benefit the next generation of leaders and industry professionals!

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Visit Orlando Engaged!

Best Family Story Award At Annual Tmac Conference

Visit Orlando participated in the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) Conference May 2 in Richmond, British Columbia. As the sponsor of the Best Family Story Award, we positioned Orlando as a leading family destination while sharing what’s new with more than 200 Canadian travel media representatives.

Our in-market agency representative participated in TMAC’s media marketplace, holding more than 40 one-on-one meetings with journalists, content creators and travel influencers to strengthen relationships and generate new story opportunities in the Canadian market.

In the News

Southern Living: This Florida City Is An Underrated Food Destination

Radio Reise (Germany): Orlando: Theme Parks & Beyond

Florida Today: Best summer travel destination ranking list includes 2 Florida cities

Travelweek (Canada): Orlando sets new tourism record with 76.7M visitors in 2025