Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday held a press conference to announce that an unprecedented level of tourism took place in the state of Florida during 2021.
According to Florida’s data, 117.7 million domestic travelers visited Florida during 2021. Despite the United States struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic, Florida managed to reach the highest level of domestic visitation in the history of the state.
In the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, 30.9 million people visited the state of Florida, marking the second consecutive quarter with higher visitation totals than before the pandemic. The fourth quarter saw an impressive seven percent increase from pre-pandemic levels of travel in the state of Florida. Additionally, during the fourth quarter, 1.5 million people visited Florida from overseas, which was an increase of 43 percent over the third quarter.
With the highest level of domestic visitation in the history of Florida, the state also saw an increase in revenue. According to the state’s data, hotel revenues reached $17.3 billion. This marks the highest level of hotel revenue in Florida’s history.
Florida’s record numbers reflect the reality that Florida is one of the few places in the world where more people are visiting than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic. This should not come as a surprise since Florida has remained a safeguard for freedom during a time of lockdowns and mandates. Americans from across the nation have fled to Florida to escape government mandates and restrictions on freedom.
DeSantis has frequently pointed out the hypocrisy of Democrat politicians who have instituted Covid-19 mandates for their constituents and yet escaped to Florida to enjoy freedom for themselves. He has previously commented, “If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man, let me tell you.” This prompted the governor’s campaign to even sell “escape to Florida” t-shirts, capitalizing on liberal hypocrisy.
In his State of the State address to residents of Florida, DeSantis stated, “Florida has stood strong as a rock of freedom and it is upon this rock that we must build Florida’s future.”
Perhaps the rest of the country will follow Florida’s example after seeing the state’s massive domestic travel feat.