Orlando Real Estate

I just received the annual report of Orlando/Orange County Convention & Vistors Bureau, Inc. (CVB), and I have to say their projections for this year look good. Let me start by saying that 2005 was just an off the charts kind of year for us here in a lot of ways. Job growth was at a pace double that of the rest of the state, and Florida lead the nation. Of course home sales were at a frantic pace, and builders actually could not keep up with demand. On top of that our commercial real estate market was going gangbusters too. Tourism was not to be outdone. That year we saw 49.4 million people come to Orlando. That is not a typo or a statewide number - Orlando had about a million extra people here each week just passing through. We have had a couple of down years in tourism compared to 2005, but 2006 and 2007 were still in the top three or four years we have ever had. The CVB is expecting 2008 to come very close to 2005 numbers with projected visitations of 49.2 million with about 2.9 million being internation guests. These numbers are important to our local economy because about one in four residents works in the tourism industry.

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