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A lofty tourism goal for the state looks to be exceeding expectations. As Matt Galka tells us, all the visitors add up to more jobs here at home.

With an economy seemingly back to pre-recession numbers and plenty to offer, Florida tourism business is booming. 2013 was another record year for out of staters coming in.

“We went to 91.5 million visitors to 94.3 million.  What we calculated is, that has increased Florida jobs by a total of 75,771,” said Florida TaxWatch economist Jerry Parrish.

More visitors mean more jobs – so the Governor wants to see an all time high of 100 million tourists come through the state this year. Early numbers from 2014 show the state is ahead of the pace. More than 26 million people stopped by in the first quarter of this year.

Will Seccombe/Visit Florida President and CEO

“Today in the state of Florida there are more visitors than live in 12 US states, and those people are coming in and experiencing all that we have to offer, they’re staying in hotels, they’re buying at retail stores, they’re buying at restaurants,” said Visit Florida C.E.O. Will Seccombe.

Florida TaxWatch says with all the visitors coming in, it could lead to tax savings for the people living here year round.

The state benefits when someone from out of state and out of the country chooses to spend their money in Florida.  About 23% of sales tax collected every year comes from tourists.

“What that makes possible is things like the tax holiday we had this past weekend, the nearly 500 million tax break that the most recent legislature gave to Florida citizens, it makes those things possible,” said Parrish.

Visit Florida is not technically a state department, but does benefit greatly from legislature money. This past year – lawmakers voted to up the public/private partnership’s budget to $74 million dollars.

The state’s visitation numbers have increased for four straight years since a recession low of 80 million visitors in 2009.