There is no initial enrollment cost during the test period. However, once the program gets fully engaged, there will be a projected $100-$150 annual cost. The program is voluntary for anyone who is a frequent traveller with American and/or Delta and also for one who agrees to be subjected to background and other privacy checks. Performing these checks in advance greatly expedites the airport screening process for these selected travellers.

In fact, the US Travel Association is also lobbying hard to expand the international “trusted traveler” program via the Global Entry nation partnership. Currently, this program is designed to expedite or omit the global immigration check process altogether. All of these checks would be pre-performed for those trusted countries’ incoming citizens. For more about the Global Entry and Trusted Traveller programs, click on the US Department of Homeland Security website.

Many visitors from one of Orlando’s largest international markets (the United Kingdom) often complain loudly about the security process when entering the USA. Many feel abused as they get their fingerprints taken, and their retinas scanned. In a global market, these offended international travellers can easily opt for other travel destinations other than the USA to avoid such a process.

At the recent 28th annual US Travel Association meeting, Association President Roger Dow emphasized the need to expand the Global Entry program beyond its current 36 member country reciprocal arrangement. Moreover, Mr. Dow alluded to the United States’ declining share of the international tourism market which has dropped from 18% 12 years ago to its current market share of 12% as a strong reason to pursue this action. This would add an additional $80 billion to the overall American economy according to Mr. Dow. See more details on this speech to the US Travel Association.

Of interest to Floridians is the fact that many resident guests from friendly countries such as Brazil may take as much as long as 5 months to get a visa. Brazilians, residents of a robust economy,  are known to have excellent spending patterns of over $6,000 per person per trip. Expansion of the Global Entry Nexus international partnership with additional trusted countries such as Brazil is an idea whose time has come.

International travel to Orlando  has been robust despite the fact that travel convenience to the United States is not optimal. The steps the Transportation Security Administration has taken are definitely moving in the right direction. Expanding this domestic initiative as well as adding additional trusted countries to the Global Entry program would continue to help bolster Orlando and Florida’s significant share of the international travel market.

After 3 years in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, we must ask:  Will Orlando’s happy image recover from this ugly tragic episode?

Whether Floridians like it or not, broadcast of the horrific case from Orlando has bombarded  the airwaves. Travellers to Central Florida, just like many other Americans, are talking incessantly about the tragedy and trial as if were  ”reality television”.

Orlando’s image has surely been effected. But this too shall pass?

The closest thing we can recall is for those of us who remember the OJ Simpson trial and were besieged by nonstop coverage from Los Angeles. A gruesome murder and the resulting high profile trial made us all intimate with the LA scene.

Ms. Anthony did not come into the trial proceedings with the same “celebrity” status as OJ. However, over the last 3 years, other aspects of Orlando’s culture such as its darker party scene, have been revealed to the world. More than likely, the media spotlight will burnout when the circus style coverage is over.

Although it has been painful to see our community ripped apart and covered in such a negative manner, we believe time will heal these wounds.  There are no signs that this will effect Orlando in any long term manner. There is cognitive association with the Orlando trial and tragedy for now, but no evidence this will leave a lasting impression.

Orlando holds the #4 spot among US cities for international tourism guests. Miami and Orlando currently comprise over 90% of the inbound international traffic to Florida.

In terms of specific numbers, Florida jumped from 5.3 million international travellers in 2009 to over 5.8 million in 2010. Orlando increased from 2.4 million to 2.7 million global guests in 2010, a positive movement of 13%. For a full report on global visitation to the United States, please click here.

In terms of projecting international visitation in the future, a few regional global trends emerge:

• South America should continue to grow in the double digits for the foreseeable future barring an unanticipated global economic event. Within this market and in the short term, visitation from Brazil and Argentina is expected to grow 18% and 16% respectively.
• Asia as a region is expected to grow in the low double digits for several years. Not unexpectedly, China, South Korea and India are the stars in this regional world area.
• European visitors growth is expected to be stagnant at best. Most experts look for a low single digit visitor growth curve from 2011-2016.

So why is this important? It is quite clear that growth in the tourism base, both in Florida as a whole and Orlando, may well hinge on attracting tourism from new emerging markets. A continued rise in Latin American and Asian traffic may well re-shape the profile of the international traveller to Florida in the next decade.

As the international demand for Orlando tourism grows, so does the demand for Orlando vacation rentals. Many of the most popular vacation home communities can be toured on this site (to the left) to find an ideal vacation home community based on your needs.

• Better disclosure and open posting of fees to allow the average consumer more details before making reservations
• Compensation for being “bumped” to increase roughly 60% at the low and high ends
• Voluntary and forced bumping compensation must now be presented at the gate when applicable
• Baggage fees shall be refunded if baggage is lost by your airline

Additionally, because of the many international flights embarking to Florida, the new passenger rights will be in force at many Sunshine State airport destinations. These new standard rules include:

• Global flights must now report tarmac delays to the DOT/FAA
• The tarmac delay rule which was previously applicable only to domestic flights, will now apply to global flights as well. This is commonly called the “3 hour rule”.

The fore-mentioned 3 hour rule was a landmark set of regulations aimed at improving the required quality of service standards for all airlines. This rule established a few basic mandates:

• The maximum duration for being stranded on the tarmac is 3 hours
• All domestic airlines must offer you water and a snack if your tarmac delay does exceed 2 hours
• The airlines are required to respond to your correspondence within 60 days

All of these passenger oriented initiatives should help lift the real and perceived image of domestic air carriers. Since Florida is one of the top 3 states for air travel, this is a big deal. This can only help all domestic and international travellers’ comfort level with flying to any Florida destination.

So whether you’ve booked flights to Orlando in first class or booked another Florida city on the cheap , you’ll be pleased with this minimum new programme. For additional information on the new air passenger bill of rights, please click here.

If you’re looking to pair up your airfare with some luxurious Orlando accommodations, check-out our reviews of Orlando vacation rental homes. These community resort reviews are geared towards informing you, the consumer, all about vacation home rentals and what they have to offer.

This is destined to have a large impact on the Florida travel and hospitality market with the size, influence and scope of both companies.

Orlando Vacation Home Rental Reviews

• Along with Priceline®, Orbitz® and Travelocity®, Expedia is a titan in the travel business. Expedia’s worldwide interests include Hotwire® and Hotels.com® along with many others. According to financial industry statistics, the Bellevue, Washington company generated over $3.3 billion in sales in 2010.

• TripAdvisor is one of the largest travel review sites focusing on consumer generated content to drive its readership. Although there is some accepted controversy around the vacation and hotel reviews, millions of travellers turn to local content such as TripAdvisor vacation rentals to make vacation planning decisions. Click on the controversial UK article regarding TripAdvisor reviews that generated a lot of online buzz. TripAdvisor has continued to grow its revenues despite tough economic times over the last few years.

• Expedia has a huge presence especially for flight reservations and hotel bookings. Great travel packages can be enjoyed often by packaging these two along with car rentals. This is true regardless of which continent you wish to travel to.  Our recent search on Expedia  for Orlando hotels yielded 462 different hotels to choose from in the area. With so much traffic coming through Expedia, the company has been a huge influence on the regional travel market.

• With the TripAdvisor spinoff, Expedia could build out new sites with growing demand for online travel review sites. Much of this content is locally driven and requires some knowledge of the area to add value. Moreover, such media based subsidiaries such as FlipKey will also help grow niche markets for the TripAdvisor vacation rental brand. Combining this formula with new social media should continue to drive growth over the short and long term especially for the Orlando and Florida travel markets.

For additional travel reviews of Orlando vacation home rentals, click on our home page. Community reviews of blue chip resorts such as Windsor Hills and  Emerald Island along with many others are posted and often updated. If you are looking for maps, photos, videos and reviews of vacation homes ranging mostly from 3 bedrooms to 7 bedrooms in size, see our communities on the right side of your screen.

Marriott Hotels Chief Financial Officer Carl Berquist recently issued a rather downbeat assessment of Orlando and North American hotel demand for 2011. Although international growth has met or exceeded expectations in 2011, Mr. Berquist specifically noted disappointing demand for group properties including those in Orlando. Marriott has numerous properties in the Orlando market. Although the Marriott forecast deals mostly with the group market, it does point to a concern for continued growth for the entire Orlando lodging market. View the Marriott Hotels forecast. 

One thing that was interesting to note from the Marriott forecast was the strong growth in international travel to Orlando . Several months ago we blogged about the US Department of Commerce boosting international tourism growth forecasts for several years to come. In fact, double digit international arrival growth estimates are expected out to the year 2015. 

Orlando Tourism

And speaking of Orlando group travel, we extolled the benefits of vacation homes for small groups on a previous post. Vacation homes provide tremendous value for such groups with some homes offering 7 and 8 bedrooms sleeping upwards of 16 persons. Such homes can be of significant benefit to many sports teams, church groups, family reunions and other arrangements where luxury, privacy and household amenities are a necessity. 

Vacation rentals in Orlando continue to gain traction against hotels in many market segments, and especially in the small group segment where value is so important.

Orlando Monthly High/Low Average Temperatures and Average Precipitation Levels

January – Average high 72 degrees – Average low temp 49 degrees – 2 inches of rainfall

February – Average high 73 degrees – Average low temp 51 degrees – 2 inches of rainfall

March – Average high 78 degrees – Average low temp 55 degrees - 4 inches of rainfall

April – Average high 83 degrees – Average low temp 60 degrees – 2 inches of rainfall

May – Average high 88 degrees – Average low temp 65 degrees - 4 inches of rainfall

June – Average high 90 degrees – Average low temp 70 degrees – 7 inches of rainfall

July – Average high 91 degrees – Average low temp 73 degrees - 7  inches of rainfall

August – Average high 92 degrees – Average low temp 72 degrees - 7 inches of rainfall

September – Average high 90 degrees – Average low 72 degrees - 6 inches of rainfall

October – Average high 85 degrees – Average low temp 66 degrees - 3 inches of rainfall

November – Average high 79 degrees – Average low temp 58 degrees – 2 inches of rainfall

December – Average high 73 degrees – Average low temp 53 degrees – 2 inches of rainfall

– Orlando Temperature and Precipitation Source: www.weather.com

Avoiding the Masses – Estimated Volume of Travellers to Orlando

• January, February, September, December (1-23) - Relatively low periods of travel and tourism to the city*
• May, August, October, November – Medium levels of travel excluding holidays to Orlando*
• March, April, June, July – Highest time of year for travel to the city excluding major holidays*

There are several cross reference notes to offer here. Almost 50% of the rainfall the region receives occurs in about 3 1/2 months time –  June through mid-September. This means that summer park and attraction visits will be interrupted occasionally by rain showers. The weather in Orlando Florida is usually quite predictable during this period of time.

Also, the weather in the city in March is often ideal for most guests with a mean temperature in the mid 60′s. This makes Orlando ideal for a spring break vacation. The parks are always busiest during the holidays which can fall within some of our monthly volume thresholds. We’ll let you decide what variable matters to you most when visiting the area. Please click here for a current 5 day Orlando weather forecast.

For those renting vacation homes, the weather in Kissimmee Florida is roughly the same as that in Orlando. If you do select a vacation rental with a private pool, your best option for utilizing the pool may be in fact the warmer months. Vacation rentals are comfortable and spacious, and offer a plethora of amenities. Consult our main page for reviews on most resort communities offering rates on short term rental homes.

* Note: As we have seen in recent years, the volume of travel has been fluctuating due to the economy, and these period estimates are based solely on recent history.

Weather in Orlando FL

Additional highlights from the Orlando travel report included:

• Annual domestic travel increased approximately 3% while international travel rose 9% for the year ending 2010 versus 2009
• The Aviation Authority also indicated that large increases to Orlando from many mid-tier cities accounted for much of the positive numbers. This is apart from the robust increase in international travel that was recorded for the year. We blogged recently about the importance of new domestic and international routes (cheap airfare to Orlando) that tend to help keep airfares to Orlando competitive.

However, although these volumes were quite impressive, the Orlando Sanford air travel volumes did show declines on an annual basis. Domestic annual travel volumes to the Orlando Sanford airport were down 38% and international travel down 12%. All in all, Orlando Sanford (SFB) airport volumes are a mere fraction of the number of passengers that travel through the Orlando International Airport (MCO). In fact, Orlando International handles more than 20x the passenger volume that Sanford handles on annual basis.

These travel statistics mirror the trends that have been developing in Central Florida for some time. For instance, SeaWorld recently announced record holiday traffic to the park in December. Even Amtrak intermodal passenger rail volumes to Florida were up year-over-year reflecting across the board increases in visitor flow  to the region/city.

Florida Tourism Bounces Back - Harry Potter a Magical Hand

Regardless of whether you arrive by plane, train or car, vacation rentals are a great option for any traveller to Central Florida. Luxurious amenities such as private pools, self catering kitchens, and large spacious living areas can all be yours. Our website rates and reviews over 75 rental communities on a wide range of criteria including quality, location and community amenities. Consult these reviews to help make your Orlando vacation a smashing success.

The Air France-KLM Paris to Orlando flights will begin in June, 2011. The service will be from Charles de Gaulle international airport to/from Orlando via a Boeing 777-300 aircraft. The flight to Paris France will seat 472 persons and operate this “French Connection” three times per week . Air France-KLM is a strategic partner with Delta Airlines.

This is fabulous news for the Kissimmee and Orlando villa rental market. Its no secret that the French love to stay in luxurious self-catering villas both in Florida and in other glamorous global markets such as Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. This direct air flight service from Paris to Orlando should prove to be a lucrative offering for both inbound and outbound travellers.

We recently blogged about the improving international tourism and travel conditions. Moreover, international travel to the United States is up 9% year to date. For many destinations, international travel continues to set a positive pace. International guests add millions of dollars to the local economy.

International guests love to rent Orlando villas for their comfort and relative value. This website has posted reviews on over 80 resort communities with various holiday villa amenities and styles. Consult our main page for these original critiques of Orlando resorts along with photos, video and profiles. Once you stay in one of many luxurious Orlando holiday homes, you’ll never stay in a traditional hotel again.

The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) reports that international visitors spent 15% more in June 2010 than they did during the same period in 2009. This translates into about $1.4 billion more for June, 2010. Some additional noteworthy points that were part of this travel and tourism report:

• This marks the sixth consecutive increase in monthly international tourism growth
• Passenger airfares received from international visitors is up 17% from 2009 to 2010
• 2010 spending by international visitors is up 7% YTD.
• Spending by Americans on domestic travel and tourism is only up 2% for 2010 YTD.

For the latest OTTI update with historical spending data, please click here.

This increase in aggregate international tourism would parallel what we are seeing in Orlando. Robust demand for new attractions has helped drive incremental improvements in demand for local lodging including area vacation rentals. International travellers particularly enjoy Orlando holiday homes because of the affordable luxuries. For instance, the “Made for Canadians” promotion helped spur renewed interest in Orlando tourism as well as rental homes as the accomodation of choice.

Moreover, due to the longer length of stay, having the comforts of home makes any vacation more enjoyable. These amenities often include wireless internet, game rooms, ample living space and privacy. For reviews on over 80 resort vacation home communities, please click on our profiles located on the main page. Villas in Orlando are a lifestyle choice for your vacation.