Around the world most people think of Florida as a vacation destination. Beginning in the early nineteenth century its warm winters attracted visitors, and their numbers have grown ever since. Today approximately 40 million people visit Florida annually. Hundreds of thousands more come to work, or to retire, drawn by the thought of year-round outdoor recreation. The state's saltwater beaches are undoubtedly the major natural tourist resource, but its lakes, rivers, and forests attract many people as well. Commercial tourist attractions are found throughout the state, but today those around Orlando are the most famous. ECONOMICS OF TOURISM AND RECREATION Florida's first tourists came to enjoy its rivers and springs and stayed in modest accommodations. As more Americans had both the time and money to take vacations, Florida's tourist industry expanded. By 1940, 3 million tourists arrived each year. After World War II, when retirees began to flock to the state, and millions of people began to vacation there, the industry grew to meet their needs. Today Florida has one of the most elaborate recreational infrastructures in the world, including thousands of hotels, motels, restaurants, and bars and hundreds of attractions. Some attractions are huge, like Orlando's Walt Disney World, whereas most are much smaller, such as the Snake-A-Torium in Panama City or the Old Jail in St.ÊAugustine. Private golf courses abound, including extraordinary miniature ones. Tennis clubs and swimming pools are common. There are museums to meet almost anyone's taste: from the Miami Museum of Science, the Norton Gallery of Art in Palm Beach, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota to the Underwater Demolition Team Seal Museum in Ft. Pierce, Ripley's Believe it or not Museum in St. Augustine, and the Tupperware Museum in Orlando. Gardens, zoos, animal farms, and historical buildings abound throughout the state. Spectator sports are popular with both visitors and residents. The state's national champion collegiate athletic teams draw huge crowds. There are post-season bowl games, the most famous being Miami's Orange Bowl. For decades a number of major league baseball teams have trained in Florida during the winter, playing exhibition games in the spring. Professional major league teams in football, basketball, and hockey are now located in the state, and in 1991 Miami obtained a franchise for a National League baseball team. Florida's Winter Equestrian Festival culminating in Tampa in March attracts internationally renowned competitors and their horses. Dog and horse tracks, as well as jai alai frontons compete for the better's money. Throughout the year communities attract visitors by holding festivals, tournaments, concerts, and other events. Tourists spend an estimated 32 billion dollars each year in Florida. Residents add billions of dollars more to the tourist economy. Winter is still the peak season to visit Florida. Florida's tourist industry responds to national economic conditions. During recessions the tourist trade grows more slowly or even declines. The largest number of tourists visiting Florida from other states come from east of the Mississippi River. In the winter most are from the Northeast and from along the lower Great Lakes. Many summer visitors come from Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, a large share heading for the Gulf of Mexico beaches from Panama City to Pensacola. The number of foreign visitors to the state increased steadily throughout the 1980s and was approaching 5 million annually by the end of the decade. Almost 30 percent of all British tourists to the United States choose Florida for their vacations. Most Europeans, many on tours that include lodging and a rental car, and a visit to Walt Disney World, come in the summer. Over 2 million Canadians arrive each year to escape their nation's cold winters. The largest number go to southeast Florida. The Economic and Demographic Research Division of the Florida Legislature has estimated that the demands of out-of-state tourists have created almost 700,000 jobs, about 13 percent of all jobs in the state. Earnings from tourist-related jobs total 10 billion dollars. More than half the jobs in restaurants and bars, hotels and motels, and amusements and attractions depend on the tourist trade. Approximately 15 percent of sales tax collected in Florida comes from sales to out-of-state tourists. In the past thirty years the difference between the peak and low tourist seasons has diminished greatly. Until the end of the nineteenth century Florida's summers were considered excruciatingly hot and unhealthy to people from the northern states. Malaria, and even yellow fever outbreaks, were not unusual. Since the end of World War II a successful effort has been made to extend the tourist season. Air conditioning has contributed enormously to increasing the summer tourist trade. Also, there has been a huge investment in tourist facilities that appeal to children. During the summer typical tourists are young couples who arrive with their children, usually by car, to visit the large theme parks and the beaches. During the rest of the year most visitors are adults. Notable exceptions are the college students who pour into Ft. Lauderdale and Daytona Beach during their spring break from all over the eastern United States. THE DISTRIBUTION OF COMMERCIAL TOURIST ATTRACTIONS The evolution of the transportation system, the increased ability of young families to take long vacations far from home, and the immigration of large numbers of Hispanics into the Miami area have all affected the distribution of commercial tourist attractions and facilities in Florida. Early in the nineteenth century tourists from the North reached Florida by boat, but by the end of the century rail service was established to both the Tampa area and down the east coast. Grand hotels were built by the developers of the railroads. St. Augustine was the first tourist town, but by the beginning of the twentieth century a number of tourist communities had developed along the Atlantic coast as far south as Miami. On the Gulf coast St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Ft. Myers began to emerge as winter resorts. With the advent of the automobile, tourist facilities became less concentrated. The automobile especially increased tourism in the state's interior. By the middle of the twentieth century tourist attractions were widely distributed throughout the state. Shortly after World War II with the wider use of air transportation tourist accommodations became more concentrated in certain parts of the state. Miami benefited the most. Package tours to Miami including the cost of air travel, accommodations, and a rental car became popular. The nation's largest rental car agency, Hertz, was opened at this time in Miami. For twenty years after World War II tourism on Miami Beach boomed with opulent new hotels opening almost every year. During this period the geography of tourism was also altered by the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Automobile tourists, many of whom were young families arriving in the summer, tended to follow the new limited-access highways. Tourist facilities along the older federal and state highways suffered, and many were closed. New facilities sprung up along the exits of the interstates. The tourist industry in towns like Perry in north Florida suffered severely following the construction of the interstate whereas towns like Lake City, also in north Florida, but where two interstates cross, greatly benefitted. The CubanÊRevolution also precipitated change in tourism in the state. Cubans by the hundreds of thousands left the island to live in Miami, radically altering the character of the city. Many tourists, particularly from the northeastern U.S. chose other places for their vacations. Towns farther to the north on the Atlantic coast, and along the southwest coast profited from Miami's decline in tourism. The Gulf of Mexico port of Naples, a small town with fewer than 400 hotel and motel rooms at the close of World War II, now has over 5,000 rooms. Since 1970, the Gulf coast between Panama City and Pensacola also has grown in relative importance as a tourist area. Summer visitors from the southeastern states, particularly Georgia and Alabama, have flocked to the beautiful white sand beaches of northwest Florida. First Panama City became the principal center of tourist activities, but increasingly people have chosen to vacation farther west, particularly around Destin. The beaches of northwest Florida are so popular among people of neighboring states that they are often called the "Redneck Riviera." THE ORLANDO TOURIST REGION No single factor has altered the tourist landscape of Florida more than Walt Disney World, which opened near Orlando in 1971 on a 24,000-acre tract of land. Prior to the opening of Walt Disney World the economy of the Orlando area was primarily based on aircraft and space-related manufacturing, military installations, services to retirees, and the surrounding orange groves. There were only a handful of large tourist attractions in all of Central Florida: Silver Springs (1890), Cypress Gardens (1930), Weeki Wachee (1947), Busch Gardens (1959), and NASA Kennedy Space Center's Spaceport (1966). With the instant success of Walt Disney World the Orlando area became the state's most important tourist center. Later other theme parks were built nearby to compete with the Disney attraction. The year Walt Disney World opened Greater Orlando had 450,000 inhabitants, but by 1991 it had over 1 million. Much of that growth was due to the expansion of tourism in the region. Today the Orlando area vies with Las Vegas as having more hotel and motel rooms than any other metropolitan area in the nation, including New York City. Walt Disney conceived the idea to build Walt Disney World shortly after Disneyland opened in Los Angeles in 1955. Disneyland, the world's first theme park, was an immediate success, with annual attendance quickly reaching 12 million. Disney wanted to build a similar park in the East. He chose the Orlando area because he wanted a large tract of inexpensive land in a place where there were warm winters, that was served by an interstate highway, and that was not too distant from the large northern cities. South Florida had warmer winters, but land costs were high. Whereas land costs were cheaper farther north in Georgia, winters were too severe to attract tourists in that season. The land transaction was made more advantageous by the Florida legislature, which gave Disney special governmental status over his 27,400-acre property, in several respects making it similar to a county. The Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the land was designated by the legislature, enacts and enforces building codes, constructs roads, canals and lakes, and enforces laws with its own security force. The large tract was named Walt Disney World and its first theme park, the Magic Kingdom, opened in 1971. Although it is larger than the 240-acre Disneyland in Los Angeles, its themes are similar. The park is situated deep in the interior of Walt Disney World, and can be reached by private auto and bus. Walt Disney World today has its own hotels, and guests who stay within it can reach the Magic Kingdom by monorail. The initial success of the Magic Kingdom was even greater than Disneyland, and today between 25,000 and 75,000 people are admitted daily, depending on the season. Since the Magic Kingdom primarily has children's themes, attendance is highest during the summer, around Christmas, and during the spring school break. Almost immediately after completion of the Magic Kingdom, the Disney Corporation began plans to build a second theme park within Walt Disney World. Whereas the Magic Kingdom was designed to meet the demands of the children of the baby boom, this new park would have themes that interested adults. Many of these adults were the now mature children of baby boom families. Named EPCOT, an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, it has two sections and resembles a world's fair. Future World was built with corporate financial support, and includes exhibitions of such multinational corporations as General Motors and Exxon. World Showcase, the second section, is a joint venture between a number of countries and Disney to display elements of each nation's history, arts, and technology. A third theme park--Disney-MGM Studios--was opened in 1989. It features a tour of stage sets of famous movies such as Casablanca, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the Wizard of Oz, with spectacular special effects. Movies and television programs are also produced in the park, and the visitor can watch them being filmed. In 1989 the Walt Disney Corporation also opened a smaller park, Pleasure Island, featuring water slides and the Grand Floridian Beach Resort. Annual attendance to Disney attractions is well over 30 million. It has 35,000 employees, the largest number working for a private corporation in the state. Walt Disney World today is generally acknowledged to be the most well-attended commercial tourist attraction in the world. Disney anticipated that his Walt Disney World would attract many competitors. One of the reasons he desired such a large tract of land was to have a buffer between his parks and the competition. Nonetheless, parks began to spring up around the Magic Kingdom. The two largest are Sea World (1973) and Universal Studios (1990). Estimated annual attendance at Sea World is approximately 5 million, and at Universal Studios between 6 and 9 million. The Orlando area has many smaller attractions, for example Medieval Times, Mystery Fun House, Xanadu, Wet'n'Wild, and Fun'n'Wheels. The Spaceport on Cape Canaveral, Silver Springs in Ocala, and St. Augustine, the oldest European-founded continuously settled town on the North American continent, are all within easy driving distance of Orlando. Not all theme parks in the Orlando area succeed. One large one, after trying a circus theme, and then baseball, has closed indefinitely. The Orlando area, however, is never without the promise of a new theme park. In addition to that announced by the Walt Disney Corporation, a group in 1991 was seeking money to build a large park with a Chinese theme. A magnetically levitated railroad is scheduled for construction from the Orlando International Airport to Orlando's International Drive, where there are many large hotels. A maximum speed of several hundred miles an hour will be reached on the short run between the airport and hotels. Although overshadowed by the giant commercial parks in the Orlando area, throughout Florida are many private tourist attractions, each drawing hundreds of thousands or more visitors. Southeastern Florida, the so-called GoldÊCoast, is particularly well endowed with these attractions, including Orchid Jungle (1886), said to be the state's oldest commercial tourist attraction, the Seaquarium, Metro Zoo, Ocean World, Monkey Jungle, and Parrot Jungle in the Miami area, and Lion Country Safari near West Palm Beach. Tampa has Busch Gardens, whose annual attendance is approximately 4 million. The state's Department of Commerce publishes a catalog of Florida tourist attractions, which lists approximately 250 public and private attractions by region. Throughout Florida there are hundreds of other smaller attractions not mentioned in the catalog. ENVIRONMENT-BASED TOURISM AND RECREATION Almost everyone who lives in or visits Florida enjoys one or more of its natural amenities. During the winter few Florida residents regret not living in the cold North. Millions of visitors from the North come at that time to enjoy the state's mild to warm temperatures. The state has some of the most beautiful beaches in the nation, both on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Geologists and coastal experts in 1991 in a national poll voted Grayton Beach, located between Panama City and Ft. Walton Beach, the most beautiful in the continentalÊUnitedÊStates. Many other Florida beaches have the same white-sand, rolling dunes, sea oats, tidal lakes teaming with fish, and crystal-clear blue water. For surfers, Florida's coastline might not offer the waves of California or Hawaii, but many go to Cape Canaveral and judge surfing conditions there excellent. The warm and relatively pollution-free water off all Florida beaches, however, is marvelous for swimmers. Boating , both sail and power, is also a popular pastime. Florida manufactures more pleasure boats than any state in the nation, and a large share of them are purchased by Floridians. Sportfishing from piers as well as from boats offshore is a popular recreational activity. Various communities sponsor saltwater fishing tournaments, for marlin, mackerel, bonefish, sailfish, and tarpon, among others. The intracoastal waterway is a scenic route for pleasure boats that extends for hundreds of miles along both coasts. The appeal of Florida's coasts to both visitors and residents is so powerful that the natural amenities of its interior are often overlooked. Florida has a large number of state parks, forests, recreational areas, and wildlifeÊmanagementÊareas, many with camping facilities. The federal government maintains large national forests, estuarine and marine sanctuaries, and wildlife refuges as well as Everglades and Biscayne National parks and Big Cypress National Preserve. Within these public areas and the huge private forests owned by paper companies are lakes, rivers, and springs for boating, fishing, swimming, water skiing, and a numerous and varied wildlife to hunt or observe. North Florida's springs are particularly satisfying for summer bathing, since the subterranean water that feeds them is cool. In addition, they are extraordinarily clear, providing nearly perfect visibility for scuba diving. Many of the state's rivers are well suited for boating. Canoeists come from great distances to enjoy them. The Ichetucknee River near Gainesville has become so popular as a tubing river that on some days access to it must be controlled. People float down the river on inner tubes, many with drinks attached by rope to the tube. Over a million people a year visit Everglades National Park southwest of Miami. Outside of the park, in this vast "River of Grass," others fish and hunt, or race about in airboats. Indiscriminate use of airboats has adversely affected both the wildlife and the vegetation of this wetland. Freshwater fishing is another popular resource-based recreational activity in Florida, enjoyed by residents as well as visitors. Most lakes are well stocked with pan fish such as bluegill, perch, and bream. Largemouth and striped bass are also found throughout the state. Several lakes have acquired a national reputation for the size of their largemouth bass. Bass of record size are regularly caught in Lake Jackson, near Tallahassee, and in Lake Okeechobee, in South Florida. CONCLUSION If it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, a map must be worth several thousand. In this section maps portray the distribution of Florida's recreational and tourist facilities offered by government and private enterprise, as well as the impact of recreation and tourism on the state's economy. It is hoped this section will prove to be enjoyable recreation in itself.