Although Orlando international air passenger travel is only roughly 10% of overall traffic, double digit increases clearly offset declines in domestic tourism. Two other interesting and relevant items of note were pulled from an academic research report entitled The Economic Impact of America’s Largest Service Export : Travel & Tourism -

• International visitors spend roughly twice as much per visitor on average as domestic travellers
• Average length of stay for international visitors is 1 week vs. much shorter lengths of stay for domestic travellers dependent on location

We’ll focus on the latter point as it relates to villas to rent in Kissimmee and Orlando. As indicated, international travellers desire lodging accommodations that are conducive for these longer term stays. This includes several in-home amenities that are normally included with villa rentals that make a long term vacation stay more comfortable:

• Self-catering kitchens to cook homemade meals for family and friends
• Large living spaces and private bathrooms for every member of the family
• Vacation villas with private pools for all friends and family

For more information on  vacation home rental resorts and subdivisions in Orlando,  please click on the community section of our home page. We have posted over 80 tours of various vacation rental communities located in the towns of  Clermont, Davenport, Kissimmee and Orlando. Find out why such vacation villas and condos are the accommodation of choice for a family or group staying in Central Florida.

With the release of the latest 2011 Office of Travel and Tourism statistics, some excellent news emerges and many Americans might be surprised. In the First Half of 2011, a  $23 Billion dollar surplus was generated from international visitors in the United States. In other words, international travel spending by individuals coming to the United States is $23 Billion higher than what Americans are spending abroad.

Even better, this staggering number is growing. In July 2011, spending by international travellers in the United States was 15% higher than what is was in July 2010. Similarly, for the July 2011 travel stats cumulative year to date figure is 13% higher. As international global travel to the United States continues to expand, the trade surplus to the benefit of the United States could top $50 Billion in 2011. This is why the recent blog post on the International Trusted Traveler program makes so much sense.

Wall Street analysts also continue to project single digit 4-5% gains in incremental global travel over the next 5 years due to rising online travel bookings via the internet. According to the Investors Business Daily, online global travel may be in its early growth stages especially in Asia and Europe where travel booked via the internet is much lower (as a %) than in the United States. Rising online bookings should continue to lift international travel.

For the Orlando and Vacation home rental market, this is welcome news. For those independent sources that book vacation rentals online such as HomeAway, this should help provide some tailwinds from which to grow in the coming years. For it is often the savvy international traveller that enjoys and savours the many luxuries that vacation villas have to offer. Internationals love vacation homes as the accommodation of choice.

Fortunately, and to the benefit of international guests, the Central Florida vacation home market is unique in many ways. The large variety of homes in over 85+ neighborhoods attracts a very diverse customer clientele including, but not limited to Canadians, South and Central Americans, Europeans and Americans desiring to enjoy all the comforts of home while on a longer term average stay vacation. This uniqueness also extends to the size of accommodations and amenities available in your private vacation home. Vacation rentals don’t have the “brand” power that hotels have to offer, but they certainly have a loyal and diverse customer base that enjoys all the luxuries that vacation homes have to offer.

For information on the many resorts in Orlando, Clermont, Kissimmee and Davenport, consult our home page for most vacation home communities in these areas. These pages contain details on such important factors as location, quality and physical attributes of the resort. Have a great vacation in Central Florida!

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.

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.

From a national perspective, international tourism was up 3% from April, 2009 to April, 2008 according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI).

Luckily for Florida, the growing middle class in many South and Central American countries has led to several sharp increases. Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina all increased year-over-year tourism to the United States by at least 20%.

From an international air traffic standpoint, international passenger counts to Orlando were up 13.6% in May, 2009 versus May, 2008. The domestic air passenger volume was down 10.2% over that same period according to the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

The global passenger news certainly cushioned the overall drop of 8.6% volume decrease. Moreover, year-to-date international travel volume is up 3.4% with many of the countries mentioned above as star performers.

Brazil continues its 35 month continuous string of increasing tourism to the United States.

International Tourism to Orlando Up 2009

Bright spots for international travel to the United States include Brazil and Argentina. Brasilian travel to the US was up 26% vs. the same period one year ago, Argentinian tourism to America was up 10%, and French travel was up 4%. In fact, for Brazil and Argentina, this represents a continuing 2 1/2 year period for increasing tourism to the United States.

Based on feedback, international tourism may be down to the city, but it appears that market share trends for Orlando vacation home rentals in the overall accommodations market may be favorable. As we have indicated in prior posts, staying in a vacation rental has become more accepted by the American public in general, and this product has begun to rapidly gain market share over hotels. If properly marketed to consumers in developing markets, vacation rentals can be the accommodation of choice for these travelers.

Our site aims to provide independent consumer information which gives a prospective Orlando traveler a sense of confidence in the quality of the vacation home community based on their expectations.