Time to set the record straight on Visit Orlando
With Tourist Development Tax (TDT) collections climbing to a record $336 million in 2022 and excess funds up for grabs, all eyes have been on TDT usage over the past seven months. Even though
Visit Orlando did not request any additional dollars, as the recipient of 30% of those funds through our contract with Orange County, we were pulled into the conversation and heavily scrutinized.
We’ve faced questions about corporate welfare, travel and tourism being a low wage industry, our transparency and most recently an issue where a county lobbyist drafted a bill for a state senator restricting TDT.
Lobbying on TDT by our organization at the state level is prohibited in our contract with Orange County. We take our contract very seriously and want to be clear: Visit Orlando was not involved in creating the proposed legislation. Our priorities align with the county.
Some argue that theme-park corporations are the main beneficiary of tax dollars used for tourism marketing. They have huge budgets and bring all the tourists, so why spend through Visit Orlando? Big budgets, yes. Drive all of Orlando’s visitors, no. According to research by DK Shifflet, 55% of Orlando’s domestic visitors never step foot in a theme park.
Our visitors are shopping, dining, exploring ecotourism, celebrating special occasions, enjoying nightlife, events, and sports. Electric Daisy Carnival, a music festival in downtown Orlando, welcomed over 100,000 attendees in 2022, with 69% from outside of Orlando. I know of a family visiting from Switzerland, not for theme parks — for escape rooms!
Orlando’s theme parks can’t tell our destination’s complete story; they aren’t creating partnerships with organizations like Michelin to elevate our culinary community, capturing photography and video of more than 50 local organizations to raise awareness of the arts, or including a small kayaking business in national and international television commercials. And they don’t book a full calendar of events at our convention center that brings billions of dollars of economic impact.
Visit Orlando promotes, sells and supports the entire destination.
There is a misperception that tourism is a low-wage industry. According to Lightcast, in 2021 the average annual wage for entry level in Central Florida was $28,000. In the hospitality and tourism sector, the average entry level wage was $36,000 a year — that’s $8,000 a year above the average. Hospitality offers many pathways to growth. A front-desk agent can start at that entry-level wage and grow to a hotel general manager making six figures.
I’m proof of the opportunity — starting in maintenance at SeaWorld, and climbing all the way to president of SeaWorld Orlando. That’s just one path out of many. I recently heard the head of HR at a local hotel discuss how staff members at their restaurant — a restaurant only open five hours a night — can pull in $90,000 a year.
Visit Orlando is a transparent organization with every TDT dollar spent posted publicly on the County Comptroller’s website. More than a dozen reports that range from financial statements to marketing plans are provided to Orange County on an ongoing basis. The Orange County agreement gives the Comptroller authority to audit Visit Orlando at any time. In addition to a Comptroller audit, every year we do an independent audit. We take fiscal responsibility seriously and are proud of our work to maximize those dollars.
Debate is healthy. The desire to find funds for projects to better the community is noble. I am passionate about creating a stronger community for all, but we must use appropriate sources.
Our community thrives when we work collaboratively. Let’s revive the spirit of cooperation so we can continue to be a world-class destination. We look forward to our continued partnership with Orange County and our community to achieve our mission “to inspire, promote and grow global travel to Orange County for economic and community benefit.”