FLORIDA, USA — Fewer people came to visit the Sunshine State in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to newly released data by Visit Florida. That declining trend was also seen across the Northeast Florida gem, St. Augustine.
The report shows that more than 135 million people visited Florida in 2023, a decrease compared to the number of visitors in 2022, which topped over 137.4 million.
However, 2023 saw the most visitors in a single quarter since pre-pandemic numbers.
In 2023's first quarter, Florida logged over 37.1 million visitors, marking the largest number of visitors coming to the Sunshine State in a single quarter since before 2019.
The largest group of international visitors came from Canada, making up 31.5% of total visitors, or 3,822,000 people, coming from outside the U.S., the report shows.
Fewer visitors in St. Augustine compared to pandemic years
The drop in visitors was also felt in the popular Northeast Florida travel destination, St. Augustine, compared to previous year-over-year growth during the pandemic.
In 2023, St. Augustine saw a year-over-year decline of 2.7% in visitors, President and CEO of the St. Johns County Visitors and Convention Bureau Susan Phillips told First Coast News.
The number is gauged based on the amount of visitors using hotels in the area, or a "bed tax" which is the taxes guests pay at hotels.
Phillips said the 2023 drop in visitation was because the historic city saw a massive increase in visitors during the pandemic and the continued growth was not sustainable for the years to follow, hence the decline.
Despite the decline in 2023, visitor numbers still topped pre-pandemic numbers.
Phillips called this 2023's numbers "quite remarkable" as they were higher than in 2019, which she called a "banner year for tourism" for St. Johns County.
Phillips pointed to reasons for the increase during the pandemic, including the state being open for visitors, and St. Augustine offering plenty of outdoor activity options for families, individuals and couples with the capacity for social distancing.
