Florida sees record tourism numbers despite Hurricane Irma

MIAMI – Florida is still getting a record number of tourists even though the state was hit by a devastating hurricane.

Gov. Rick Scott will announce Monday at a Miami ice cream boutique that a record 88.2 million visitors came to the state during the first nine months of 2017. That represents a 3.3 per cent increase over the same time period in the previous year.

The state managed to get an increase in visitors even though Hurricane Irma slammed the state in September. Irma is blamed for at least 70 deaths and plunged much of the state into darkness.

Scott said that Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing agency, did an “aggressive” ad campaign following Irma to make sure people knew the state was still open for tourists.