74 million tourists visited Orlando, Florida, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Tourism officials say more than 74 million visitors came to the Orlando, Florida, area last year, a benchmark just short of pre-pandemic levels. Tourism officials said Thursday that the number of tourists was 25% greater than it was in 2021, when central Florida was still recovering from the blows to tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic restricted international travel and caused convention cancellations. The area’s theme parks closed for several months in 2020 in an effort to stop the virus’ spread. Most of the tourists were from the U.S. The two biggest sources of international visitors were Canada and the United Kingdom.