(WTXL) - Florida continues to attract visitors to its beaches, national parks, and other attractions.
The number of visitors coming to Florida steadily climbs each year. And the first nine months of 2018 saw more travelers than ever before, according to Visit Florida.
Leon County also had a record-breaking year of tourism growth for the 10th consecutive year.
"It was more than $910 million in economic impacts from tourism in Leon County," said Kerri Post, Executive Director of Leon County Division of Tourism.
Post said 14,000 people are employed in tourism year round in the county.
"People think of tourism in Tallahassee and they think of the legislative session and football, but the data shows we are really a year-round a destination," said Post.
When statewide numbers eventually come out, Leon County expects to see a final quarter surge.
Post said there was an uptick in lodging needs across Leon County, with hotels at full capacity during the last three months of 2018 following Hurricane Michael.
Those displaced from the storm along with first responders were in part responsible for the increased numbers compared to the previous year.
Visit Florida reports even though figures from the final quarter of 2018 are not included yet, numbers from the rest of the year are up 7 percent over 2017.
"We had nearly 95.8 million out of state tourists come to Florida in the first 3 quarters of 2018," said Ken Lawson, President and CEO of Visit Florida. "Regardless of a crisis that happened, whether it's red tide or a hurricane, people know the value of Florida as a vacation destination."
Lawson said 1.4 million Floridians depend on tourism for their jobs and despite record-breaking levels of heat and toxic algae, tourists are still drawn to the sunshine state.
We will know if 2018 takes the record for the highest number of visitors when Visit Florida releases that data in April.
