{"id":180748,"date":"2026-03-06T13:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180748\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:35:11","slug":"orange-county-tourism-tax-hits-record-35-million-in-january-driven-by-new-theme-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180748\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County tourism tax hits record $35 million in January, driven by new theme park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4i76o1q1ictya1vx.jpg\" alt=\"Orange County tourism tax hits record $35 million in January\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">ORLANDO, Fla. &#8211; Orange County shattered its record for tourism tax revenue in January, collecting $35 million, a 6% increase from the same month in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">The surge comes after nearly a year of consistent growth, with the county reporting 10 straight months of rising tourist tax collections.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WOFL\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Local perspective:<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Officials credit the opening of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/theme-parks\/universal-studios\/epic-universe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Epic Universe<\/a> theme park as a major factor driving the record figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">The park has not only drawn more visitors but also encouraged longer hotel stays, helping Orlando rank third nationally for hotel occupancy.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/fox-local\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;With spring break and Easter approaching, plus a new park drawing both tourists and locals, we expect these numbers to continue rising,&#8221; said Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond. &#8220;It\u2019s been exciting to see a fresh attraction revitalizing the area.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Industry observers say the boost from Epic Universe is reshaping the local tourism landscape, as even longtime residents are visiting the new park, and previously unnoticed hotels are seeing increased bookings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This story was written based on information shared by Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/orange-county\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orange County News<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/money\/us-economy\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Economy<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/theme-parks\/universal-studios\/epic-universe\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Universal Epic Universe News &amp; Updates<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. &#8211; Orange County shattered its record for tourism tax revenue in January, collecting $35 million, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6113,47,2159,115,1335,139,141,140,2411,3437,628,16338],"class_list":{"0":"post-180748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-epic-universe","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-money","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-theme-parks","17":"tag-universal-studios","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}