Tourists still coming to Florida in record numbers

A record number of tourists are coming to Florida.

On Monday while visiting Jungle Island, Gov. Rick Scott announced that 31.1 million people visited the state during the first three months of the year. That’s a 2.5 percent jump over the same time period in 2016.

The 31.1 million was “the highest number of quarterly visitors in the state’s history,” Scott said.

Visit Florida estimates that a record 27.1 million domestic visitors traveled to Florida in the first quarter, reflecting a 3.2 percent increase over the same period last year. Estimates also show that 2.7 million overseas visitors and 1.3 million Canadians came to the Sunshine State from January-March.

Nearly 113 million tourists – most of them from the U.S. – visited last year.

Scott, however, warned that potential cuts to Florida’s tourism marketing agency could doom continued growth. State legislators recently voted to cut funding to Visit Florida by 67 percent.

If Scott signs the new state budget, the cuts will take effect in July. Scott has hinted he may veto the budget.

Legislative leaders have defended the cuts by pointing to questionable Visit Florida contracts.

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Tourists still coming to Florida in record numbers."