While New York braced for a double-digit drop in international tourists last year, Governor Ron DeSantis was busy announcing that 143.3 million people chose Florida instead.
That's another record-setting year for the Sunshine State, and the gap between Florida and the failing blue-state competition is getting harder to ignore.
The Free State of Florida just hit 143.3 million visitors in 2025, and the story behind that number is something Democrats in Sacramento and Albany are not going to want to hear.
Americans Are Voting With Their Feet – and Their Wallets
The backbone of Florida's record is 131.1 million American travelers – families, retirees, and road-trippers making up 91.5% of all visitors, and that share grew again year over year.
While California revised its 2025 tourism forecast downward for the first time since COVID – driven by a 9.2% collapse in international visitation – Florida's domestic numbers just kept climbing.
New York saw international visitor numbers fall more than 10% through mid-year.
Nevada's Las Vegas Strip saw international visitors drop over 12%.
And Florida? Record fourth quarter.
Record full year.
The contrast isn't subtle.
https://twitter.com/AllEmeraldCoast/status/2025246901310734391?s=20
The Numbers That Keep DeSantis Smiling
The fourth quarter of 2025 alone brought in 33.5 million visitors – the highest any Q4 has ever recorded – while airport enplanements at Florida's 19 major airports jumped 2.8% from the prior year.
Overseas visitation grew 4% to 9.3 million – with Brazil surging 10.4% to become the second-largest international source of visitors, and Argentina exploding 17.8%.
The economic engine behind those visitor counts is staggering.
Tourism delivered $133.6 billion in economic impact in 2024, supporting 1.8 million Florida jobs and generating $33.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
VISIT FLORIDA calculates that every Florida household saves nearly $2,000 a year in taxes because tourists are paying a massive share of the state's bills.
Think about that – Florida residents keep more of their own money because DeSantis built a state that 143 million people want to visit.
https://twitter.com/ThomasJaxTampa/status/2025802549924614148?s=20
What Blue States Can't Figure Out
The mainstream media will tell you Florida is lucky – great weather, beaches, Disney.
They won't tell you that California has great weather, beaches, and Disneyland, and its tourists are fleeing.
The difference is governance.
DeSantis opened Florida fully during COVID when Gavin Newsom was locking down California restaurants and closing schools for two years.
DeSantis signed legislation to protect parental rights in education when New York was mandating woke curricula.
DeSantis kept taxes low and regulation light when Sacramento was driving businesses out of the state with $20 minimum wages for fast food workers.
Families making vacation decisions aren't filling out policy surveys – but they're making a verdict anyway every time they book a flight to Orlando instead of LAX.
The left can spend the next year explaining why freedom didn't work.
The tourists already gave their answer.
Sources:
- Governor Ron DeSantis, "Florida Welcomes 143.3 Million Visitors in 2025," Executive Office of the Governor, February 20, 2026.
- VISIT FLORIDA, "Tourism in Florida Delivers $133.6 Billion in Economic Impact," Executive Office of the Governor, November 2025.
- VISIT FLORIDA, "Florida Sets New Tourism Record: 2024 Marks Highest Annual Visitation in State History," Executive Office of the Governor, 2025.
- CapRadio, "After Record-Breaking Years, California Tourism Forecasted to Decline in 2025," May 27, 2025.
- Skift, "U.S. Travel 2025: Who Came, Who Stayed Away – and Which States Lost," December 29, 2025.
