March is almost always good for tourism in Central Florida but it was never as fabulous as it was this year.
Comptroller Phil Diamond — whose office tracks collection and spending of Orange County’s tourist tax, widely seen as a barometer of the health of the tourism market — indicated Tuesday that receipts would continue the surge that began last April. He texted one word to a reporter asking about the numbers: “Blockbuster.”
On Wednesday, he confirmed in a news release that March “didn’t just set a new monthly high—it rewrote the record books.”
Never mind the economic turbulence afflicting the country and the world, driven most recently by rising gas prices because of the war in Iran.
Collections of the Tourist Development Tax, or TDT for short, for March 2026 totaled $42.9 million, topping the previous one-month high of $40.5 million, set in March 2024. The 2026 figure was up more than $2.7 million over collections for March 2025, a 6.8% jump, he said.
Quoting insights from Visit Orlando, the TDT-funded destination marketing agency, Diamond said the March boom was fueled by spring break travel and increased convention activity with hotel occupancy surpassing last year. The tourist tax comes from the county’s 6% surcharge on hotel rooms, home-sharing rentals and other short-term lodging
Halfway through fiscal year 2025-26, which started Oct. 1, the tax has raked in a total of $220.3 million, about $13.8 million better than the first half of a record-setting fiscal year 2024-25. TDT generated $384.6 million last year.
If the record pace continues, TDT will raise well over $400 million in the current fiscal year, shattering last year’s mark.
The revenues power Visit Orlando, pay for improvements and operations of the Orange County Convention Center, and underwrite improvements to Camping World Stadium, the KIA Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and many smaller venues.
The hotel occupancy rate in March settled at 80.8%, said Casandra Matej, Visit Orlando’s president and CEO.
The average daily room rate for Orange County’s hotels was $260.89, up about $30 from the previous year.
Among the big shows at the Orange County Convention Center was MegaCon Orlando, the annual pop culture geekfest, which drew an estimated 195,000 attendees this year. The gathering featured a rare cast reunion from “Lord of the Rings”: hobbits Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood, plus actors Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, John Rhys-Davies and John Noble.
The event also featured “Star Trek” icons William Shatner, best known for his role as Capt. James T. Kirk, commander of the USS Enterprise in the original television series, and Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov, navigator of the fictional starship.
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Looking forward to the summer, Matej said hotel demand is pacing slightly ahead of last year, with flight search volume for travel to Orlando up 11% compared to the same period a year ago.
“While we continue to monitor geopolitical factors and how major global events, including the World Cup, may influence travel planning this summer, there are encouraging signs for Orlando,” she said.
Diamond said the tourism industry in Central Florida has soldiered forward despite some strong headwinds, including the ongoing war with Iran which has choked off oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, one factor for the highest gas prices since July of 2022.
“I don’t know that I can explain the great numbers, except I think Epic is still a huge part of it,” he said, referring to Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, which opened a year ago this month. “I’m happy to see the numbers continuing, though, because it means people in Central Florida and in tourism business are still doing well.”