Officials say Record Visitor Growth Benefits Residents Through Jobs, Economic Impact And Community Investment
By Ryan Atteih, Live Reporter. Transcribed by AI
Palm Beach County welcomed 6.09 million tourists in the first half of 2026, a 6.4% increase from the same period last year.
Spokesperson Angela Cruz Ledford of “Discover the Palm Beaches” says this increase has benefited residents of Palm Beach County in a variety of ways.
“Palm Beach County on the map geographically, is very large, which is why we have 39 cities and towns, but what makes that so magical is that we offer diversity without the density, meaning we provide a variety of things to do, a variety of touchpoints, but we don’t have the crowding that other big cities like Orlando and Miami offer so it’s really nice,” said Ledford. “The beaches and the fun things to do, the dining scene, the marine life that we have here. It’s just very special.”
We spoke to tourists visiting the beach in Boca Raton.
“I like Florida because it is so sunny,” said Jules, a tourist from France. “You have the trees and the beach. You can do a lot of things.”
“But as she said, it’s just its always sunny expect these days but its sunny, it’s the people here are always you know, happy to meet new people and I don’t know we- it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful,” said Maureen, tourist.
“I love food here,” said Jules. “We can do everything. We can eat Mexican or burgers, we can eat anything we want.”
Ledford emphasized the role tourists play in the county’s economy, and how residents benefit from it financially.
“Each household saves approximately two-thousand dollars of not having to pay state tax, in part, because of tourism and the visitors that come,” said Ledford.
Tourism generates about $11.6 billion in local annual economic impact and supports nearly 95,000 jobs.
“Our tourism economy funds so many things like road infrastructure, and you know, all these things we enjoy as amenities, I always tell people I love to go out an eat all year, and I love to try new restaurants, these restaurants are here because of tourists,” said Ledford.
But for the residents of this county, this has become a special place.
“There are three things that we say too,” said Ledford “We are Florida’s cultural capital, we’re the sea turtle capital of Florida, and we’re also Florida’s golf capital. And so, all these things happen because of tourism. And the people who live here get to enjoy that, so these are powerful, tremendous benefits that the tourism economy helps to life up.”
