The tourism industry, as measured by tourist tax collections, continues its boom in Orange County.

On the heels of a record-setting 2024-25, the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) raked in $33.9 million in October, the start of the new fiscal year, according to numbers released Thursday by Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office tracks the receipts.

Diamond said the surge out of the gate was surprising.

“These collections are especially impressive because the federal government was shut down during the entire month of October,” Diamond said, noting the shutdown limited air travel, affected federal workers’ earnings and likely caused some to put off vacations.

Revenues generated by the county’s 6% surcharge added to the cost of a hotel room, a home-sharing rental like Airbnb or VRBO and other short-term lodging options were up more than $4.4 million or 15% from a year ago, Diamond’s figures show.

The revenue report generally trails collections by about five weeks. The November figures are set for release in January.

Halloween festivities and the nationally recognized food and wine festival at Disney’s EPCOT theme park helped drive visitors to Orlando in October, said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando, the TDT-funded marketing agency for the region.

Events at the Orange County Convention Center also boosted tourism revenues, she said.

Matej cited a gathering of printing and graphic arts professionals for the Printing United Expo 2025; the annual meeting of The American Academy of Ophthalmology, the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons; and the IBM TechXchange Conference, which brought thousands of developers and technologists to Orlando for a three-day learning event.

The upcoming holiday period of Christmas-New Years, traditionally among the busiest weeks of the year for Central Florida tourism, “is pacing on-par with 2024, which was the best holiday season performance since before the pandemic,” Matej said.

Hotel bookings for the first quarter 2026 also are ahead of last year with February and March “particularly strong,” she said.

Orange County’s tourist tax in 2024-25 smashed the all-time record. Will it continue?

Orlando’s hotel occupancy rate in October was 70.9%, down slightly from a year ago.

But the average daily room rate for Orlando hotels was $204.07, up about $24 or 8.3% from the previous year.

The strong October collections continue a trend that has spanned about three years.

TDT generated a record-shattering $384.5 million in fiscal year 2024-25, $25.1 million more than the previous best, set 12 months earlier. The county’s tourist tax has pulled in more than $1.1 billion in public revenues over the past three fiscal years.

With the launch of the new Epic Universe theme park in May, robust collections were forecast but they have exceeded predictions. The boom in revenue is being attributed to record-breaking numbers of tourists statewide and higher room rates locally, which translate into more tax dollars.

Diamond said it’s “definitely possible” TDT could top $400 million this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2026.

“It’s not a guarantee, it’s not a projection,” he said. “But it’s within reach.”

If this year’s revenues increase about 5% over last year’s, TDT would break through the $400 million ceiling.

Diamond, who has often spoken of the roller-coaster volatility of tourist tax revenues which crashed during the pandemic in 2020, has not changed his advice to county commissioners to spend TDT funds cautiously, no matter how rosy today’s outlook.

“Because it’s also possible we could end up being flat or go down. We don’t know at this point,” he said.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com