Florida Is Willing to Spend $100 Million To Get You To Travel to Disney World

It’s hard to fully imagine what Central Florida was like before Walt Disney came to town and opened the Magic Kingdom. It was almost entirely orange groves and swamps but has become one of the world’s premiere tourist destinations with Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, and SeaWorld.

Related: Shut Out of Florida Politics Disney Turns To California, But Orange County Wants Them Out

Nearly all of that development has come as a result of the tourism industry, and that is due, in part, to Visit Orlando. The city’s tourism arm convinces tourists and conventions to come to the city and spend their money.

But Visit Orlando has become the center of a fight between local and state governments as both wrestle over just how much the city should spend to lure tourists.

Last year, Visit Orlando had a budget of just over $107 million. Every person who visits the Orlando area pays a six percent Tourism Development Tax. Thirty percent of all taxes collected goes to Visit Orlando to help promote tourism and conventions in the city. However, Visit Orlando’s budget has jumped from $62 million in 2019 to $107 million last year.

Related: Just How Low Was Disney World’s Attendance in 2023? We’re Finding Out

The Orange County commissioners wanted to cut Visit Orlando’s budget and use that money to help fund a convention center expansion estimated to cost more than $600 million and a $90 million pledge to upgrade FBC Mortgage Stadium at the University of Central Florida. The commissioner’s proposal would cut the budget from 30 percent of tax revenue to 25 percent, capping it at $75 million.

State Sen. Linda Stewart has proposed legislation to make it harder to cut Visit Orlando’s budget, requiring a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority to change the tourism arm’s budget. Stewart’s reasoning is simple: Visit Orlando helps the small tourism destinations that don’t have their public relations firms and brings in millions more than its relatively small budget.

While that may be true, most of their commercials for the city showcase the big three tourist destinations: the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios Orlando, and SeaWorld. While tourists spend money at other area locations when visiting those three theme parks, featuring them so predominately in commercials makes the argument that Stewart made that Visit Orlando is “for the little guy” difficult to believe.

Related: Florida Takeover of Disney World’s Monorail is Complete

But now, this has evolved from a fight over theme park publicity to a dispute between state and local government, and both sides are digging in.

Commissioner Mayra Uribe told the Orlando Sentinel:

We ask Tallahassee to stay out of local government because we know what’s best for our community. All I’ve ever wanted is transparency and balance in how we spend the money, realizing we have other pressing issues. 

While the Florida Legislature continues to debate Stewart’s legislation, Visit Orlando will continue promoting traveling to Disney World, but things have gotten more complicated.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.