Orlando Vacation Rental Industry
We continue to run into executives in the travel and tourism industry that are surprised to learn about the economic impact of vacation rentals in Orlando. We did a little comparative research on the size of the national and Orlando area vacation home market, and came up with some startling, but factual tidbits.
In a 2008 research paper commissioned by the Vacation Rental Managers Association and PhoCus Wright, the following national economic data was derived:
- The vacation home segment was a $24 Billion industry in 2007 in the United States
- National hotel revenues are about 5 times as large as those of vacation home rentals
- Vacation home rentals were about 8% of all travel and lodging revenues including resorts, hotels, timeshares, campgrounds, etc… in the United States
- 21.5 million adult guests stayed in vacation rentals nationally in 2007
- Interestingly, the average party in a short term rental home is 6 persons. This compares to roughly 2.3 persons for a hotel stay.
Impact of Vacation Rentals in Orlando
Now let’s look at a recent Vacation Rental Impact Study for Central Florida conducted by the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Institute for Tourism Studies at the University of Central Florida. For Osceola County and surrounding areas in 2007, the following economic stats for Kissimmee and Central Florida vacation homes emerged:
- The vacation home segment is minimally a $1.7 billion industry in Central Florida alone.
- Although the survey did not impute this to the national total, we can infer that approximately 7% of all US vacation home related transactions occur in the Central Florida market.
- 1.24 million visitors rented vacation houses in the area in 2007.
- A startling $1.1 billion was contributed to the regional economy as a result of vacation homes.
- 14,500 jobs were associated with area vacation rentals
As you can see, the influence that vacation rentals have on the travel and leisure market in the United States is growing. Moreover, the number of vacation home rentals in the region is now a very significant part of the overall travel and leisure market in Orlando as well.
As we state on our main page, it pays to shop around learn about all the numerous vacation home options available in the Orlando and where the best values are possibly located.
Vacation Home Rentals
There is no doubt that vacation rental homes are in greater demand than ever. Our guests are realizing that they are getting more for less all-round with the luxury homes that we can offer then. As they have grown more used to the idea that a vacation rental home through a professional management company is a sure thing they have realized that there is no good reason to book a hotel or a condo for a trip where they value privacy adn exclusive use dof amenities.
Your numbers are wrong I’m afraid.
There was an economic impact study done in Polk County by CFVRMA in 2001 and that showed an economic impact of $1.641 billion to that county. Put that together with the Osceola study $1.66 billion and all of a sudden you have approximately $3.3 billion. If you add in Lake county it comes to significantly more.
Thanks so much for your comments. We discussed this and felt the Polk County data was not current, as this study was over 8 years old. However, your point is well taken. We wanted to be conservative in our estimates, but it does appear reasonable that the area vacation home economic impact is even larger than our posted estimates. Thanks again.
[…] size and variety of the area vacation homes market, we recently wrote a blog piece about the economic impact of vacation rentals on Central Florida. It is estimated that over 7% of all vacation rentals in the United States are located right here […]