Join us for Visit Orlando’s Year-End Celebration on Friday, December 6, at the Hilton Orlando. This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry professionals and reflect on the many milestones we’ve achieved in 2024.
 
Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining Charity Announcement: Join us for a live announcement of how much money was raised from the 19^th year of Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining, presented by Orlando Health. This year’s charitable beneficiary, The Mustard Seed of Central Florida, plays a pivotal role in our community by helping residents and families recover from hardships while minimizing environmental impact. Additionally, we’ll celebrate the program’s top-performing restaurants.

• Recognizing Visit Orlando’s Board Chair: As the year ends, so does the tenure of Visit Orlando’s Board Chair Terry Prather. We’ll look back over key milestones and introduce new board appointments and the official gavel exchange ceremony to transition the Board Chair role for 2025 - 2026.

• The Future of Orlando’s Arts Community: Jennifer Evins, United Arts of Central Florida President & CEO will join me in a conversation about how our two organizations have worked together to kick start cultural tourism efforts for our community and what the future holds for our vibrant arts community.

• Welcoming Brand USA’s New CEO: Learn about Brand USA’s plans for 2025 and beyond from their new President & CEO, Fred Dixon. Brand USA is the nation’s first public-private partnership to spearhead a globally coordinated marketing effort to promote the United States as a travel destination. Dixon joined Brand USA in July 2024, from NYC Tourism + Conventions and brings over 30 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry.

We have so much in store and can’t wait to celebrate with you. Register now

Data & Trends

Metro Orlando’s hotel occupancy rate for the week ending October 26, 2024, was 73.8% which was up 4.3% from the same week last year. The average daily rate for the week was $202.30 which was up 6.8% from last year. Room night demand surpassed the prior year by 5.1%.

Across the Industry

New Goal Announced to Improve Visa Wait Times: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced ambitious goals for travel in 2025, including one million additional visa appointments worldwide, to reduce wait times to 90 days for most visitors. This aims to streamline international travel ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Key efforts include smooth visa processing, embedding State Department staff in local offices to enhance collaboration, and directing the Tourism Policy Council to create a subcommittee on sporting events for better coordination. Overall, this initiative better positions the U.S. for success in a decade filled with major sporting events and strengthening our industry. Read more.

Around the Destination

Air France Launches a New Nonstop Flight: Starting May 21, 2025, Air France will launch new nonstop service between Orlando International Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. Flights will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday on the Airbus A350-900, Air France’s new flagship aircraft. The new service further elevates Orlando’s position as a premier global gateway making it even easier for European visitors to travel to our unbelievably real destination. Learn more

CFHLA Golf Tournament: The Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association (CFHLA) hosted a spirited Halloween Golf Outing at Shingle Creek Golf Club, bringing together industry professionals and community leaders for a day of networking and fun. I teamed up with Robert Bray from Orlando World Center Marriott, Elizabeth Caldarelli from GO Sports and Eric Marshall from Universal Destinations and Experiences.

Fore! Children Celebrity Golf Tournament: On Oct. 25, Comm. Bakari Burns held the Fourth Annual FORE! Children Celebrity Golf Tournament at Stoneybrook West Golf Club. The event connected community members and business leaders to help raise funds for various programs, including scholarships for District 6 students and seniors and future college students, backpacks and school supplies for younger students and additional resources to support seniors.

Visit Orlando’s Milestone Luncheon: This week, we celebrated our employees' milestone anniversaries from five and ten years to some over 30 years with Visit Orlando! We gathered at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse for a delicious meal to reflect and honor the dedication of our team members that make our team so special.

Global Marketing Committee Meeting: Visit Orlando’s Global Marketing Committee gathered at Universal Orlando Resort for their fourth quarter meeting. The committee led by Chair Michelle Smith, Assistant Director of Marketing at Conrad Orlando and Vice Chair, Jen Rother, Vice President, Brand & Marketing Strategy at Universal Orlando Resort provided feedback on Visit Orlando’s 2025 Plans and learned more from our Data & Insights team about a new segmentation study to help better target audiences to drive future visitation.

Visit Orlando’s Team Halloween Celebration: Each year, our team looks forward to a festive Halloween celebration featuring family-friendly trick-or-treating, a costume parade and very competitive costume contest. Visit Orlando members served on the judging panel awarding prizes for most on theme costume, best group performance, best “We Orlando” and judges’ choice. The creativity of your Visit Orlando team and the passion to represent our destination were well represented during this event.

SEE2024 Conference: This week, CrowdRiff held its three-day conference, SEE2024, for destination marketing organizations (DMOs), marketing managers, content strategists and travel marketers. The event featured a Creators Panel where Ian shared the significance of collaborating with local content creators to authentically showcase our destination’s unique experiences. Visit Orlando also received recognition at the conference for Excellence in Storytelling for our Plan for Vacation Day reel.

Mid-Atlantic Sales Mission: Visit Orlando and 24 members celebrated a beautiful fall day at the Mid-Atlantic annual client event held at the historic Effingham Manor and Winery in Virginia. Top area clients from association and corporate industries enjoyed networking with our members, learning about new developments in Orlando with the overall goal of driving future business to Orlando.

National Training & Simulation Association: The National Training & Simulation Association (NTSA) recently gathered at the Rosen Centre in preparation for its upcoming I/ITSEC conference, scheduled for December 2-6, 2024, at the Orange County Convention Center. NTSA represents the modeling, simulation and training industries. Since 2004, the convention has taken place annually in Orlando. Visit Orlando’s Chief Sales Officer, Lisa Messina, welcomed attendees, including NTSA leadership and board members, with opening remarks celebrating the destination.

Discover America Day: Visit Orlando was one of 26 U.S. destinations represented at Discover America Day in Toronto on Oct. 30. The PR team met with a dozen prominent media professionals and content creators, including journalists from Canadian Travel Press, Travelweek, Travel Life Magazine and OpenJaw. The Visit Orlando team shared updates on Orlando’s newest developments from attractions and hotels to the destination’s affordability and accessibility for Canadian travelers.

In the News

WFTV: ‘Urban Ember’ art piece lights up downtown Orlando

Click Orlando: Blue Man Group’s grand opening announced for return to Orlando

Orlando Weekly: Megacon Orlando announces its 2025 return, four days of fandom madness

MSN: Orlando’s first-ever Michelin Green Star restaurant - Florida ingredients Filipino tradition

Prevue: Disney’s Swan & Dolphin announce major expansion