More than 55 Million People Visited Orlando in 2011

Orlando has broken its own tourism record. Orange County, Fla., Mayor Teresa Jacobs announced Tuesday that 55.1 million people visited the Orlando area in 2011. That’s more than 3.6 million more than 2010, when Visit Orlando declared that the city was the first U.S. destination to attract more than 50 million tourists in one year. New York officials challenged that claim, and similar objections are already being raised to the 2011 numbers. NYC & Company counted 50.6 million visitors in 2011, but a spokeswoman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told The New York Times that the comparison isn’t fair because New York counts only visitors within the city limits. Orlando’s number includes 36 communities outside its borders in three different counties. visitorlando.com