{"id":429149,"date":"2026-10-16T03:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T03:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429149\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T03:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T03:12:09","slug":"hispanic-community-shapes-orlandos-tourism-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429149\/","title":{"rendered":"Hispanic community shapes Orlando\u2019s tourism industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sanika<\/a>Central Florida \u2014<\/p>\n

Orlando\u2019s Hispanic community<\/a> is a key force in the city\u2019s tourism industry, both as visitors and as contributors behind the scenes. <\/p>\n

Hispanic travelers account for 20% of Orlando\u2019s domestic market, a figure higher than the national average, according to Danielle Hollander, chief marketing officer for Visit Orlando. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about our domestic market and travel to Orlando, 20% of our travelers are Hispanic, which is significant. That\u2019s higher than the national average,\u201d Hollander said. <\/p>\n

Latin America is also a major source of international visitors, with nearly half a million travelers from Mexico and 360,000 from Colombia annually. Hollander noted that visitation from these countries has been steadily growing. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost a half a million visitors from Mexico, and it\u2019s been growing. Colombia, as well, has been growing. It\u2019s 360,000 visitors from Colombia alone,\u201d Hollander said. <\/p>\n

Hollander explained that Orlando\u2019s welcoming culture and diverse food offerings are key attractions for Hispanic visitors. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey find a culture here. They feel very welcome. They find food here that they are used to and want to try. You know, food and food experiences are very big in gastronomy to this market,\u201d Hollander said. <\/p>\n

Chef Jerry Gonzalez, who works at Walt Disney World, said his Mexican heritage heavily influences his cuisine, including his mother\u2019s spices. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the time. I cannot deny where I come from. I\u2019m from Mexico. So part of all of my cuisine is dedicated to family,\u201d Gonzalez said. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe always, always used to tell me that everything that you cook, you just need a secret ingredient that is called love,\u201d Gonzalez added. <\/p>\n

The impact of Hispanic culture is evident across Orlando\u2019s tourism industry. Jorge Ayala, who works in Disney Holiday Services, highlighted his team’s diversity. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people from Honduras, from Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Dominican Republic here in Holiday Services,\u201d Ayala said. <\/p>\n

Ayala, who has worked at Walt Disney World for 10 years, said his Puerto Rican roots inspire his passion for his work. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my culture, we are very passionate with what we do. Puerto Rican, we have that flavor, so I always trying to bring that positive energy to the decoration or the project that I\u2019m being working,\u201d Ayala said. <\/p>\n

Miami-born Michael Anthony Rodriguez, known as Dapper Dan, said he uses his Cuban heritage to connect with Hispanic guests and bridge language barriers. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you see guests who you can almost assume are of any Hispanic origin,\u201d Rodriguez said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you talk to them in Spanish, like after a set or even between a set, just a glow up in the eye, like ‘Oh my god, like we can communicate,’ like I don\u2019t have to just, like, struggle,\u201d Rodriguez said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI try to make them know that they are\u2014they\u2019re part of us. We\u2019re part of them, you know. We\u2019re all\u2014we\u2019re all one, and we\u2019re all a family,\u201d Rodriguez added. <\/p>\n

Visit Orlando is committed to maintaining this partnership. In 2025, the organization spent $800,000 on paid media for the U.S. Hispanic campaign and $4 million internationally in Mexico and Colombia. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s that feeling of welcome, and people want to feel- they feel good about places. They feel welcome, their experiences are richer, their passion points are richer. They\u2019re more likely to come back,\u201d Hollander said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving that slice of home makes everybody feel more welcome,\u201d Hollander added. <\/p>\n

Visit Orlando also noted that visitation from Latin America has been especially noticeable since the pandemic, with Argentina emerging as another rapidly growing market. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Florida \u2014 Orlando\u2019s Hispanic community is a key force in the city\u2019s tourism industry, both as visitors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4528,1209,168628,168632,168630,43841,30770,168631,168629,4392,139,141,140,992,48600,71235,19436],"class_list":["post-429149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-colombia","tag-culture","tag-danielle-hollander","tag-disney-holiday-services","tag-domestic-market","tag-gonzalez","tag-hispanic-community","tag-hispanic-traveler","tag-jorge-ayala","tag-mexico","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-people","tag-rodriguez","tag-tourism-industry","tag-visitor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429149","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=429149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}