Under the visionary leadership of Mayor Buddy Dyer who has been at the helm of the city’s growth and development for over two decades, private businesses, tourism organizations as well as business industry leaders have worked together to ensure that Orlando doesn’t just embrace growth but steers it in the right direction that benefit the community and the residents who call this great city home. UNVEILING ORLANDO’S DIVERSE ECONOMIC TAPESTRY “We have the great benefit of having one of the most internationally known brands in Orlando. When people speak of Orlando, usually the next word is Disney, Universal, or SeaWorld,” Mayor Dyer highlights. However, the tourism economy extends far beyond its iconic theme parks. “We were recently named the best sports destination in the country by Sports Business Journal. We just had the Olympic marathon trial here, and the same weekend we had the Pro Bowl, so we’re very used to hosting large sporting events which is another aspect of our tourism industry,“Mayor Dyer continues. “Visit Orlando is very well funded, we generate about $350 million in tourist development tax that’s used to promote the tourism industry in South Florida, and obviously, all of the theme parks have pretty big budgets related to that as well. Mayor Dyer adds “We also highlight the arts here in our community, and have made substantial investments, not just into the performing arts center, but also in the Orlando Ballet, the Orlando Philharmonic, and then smaller arts-related programs as well. We believe that’s a big aspect of tourism too.” He acknowledges the city’s uncanny ability to develop diverse industry clusters, each contributing to Orlando’s economic resilience and innovation prowess. While the theme parks stand as titans in the global arena, other industry clusters underscore Orlando’s commitment to developing a dynamic economy. “Certainly our theme park cluster would be the biggest and most important in the world, but we 3 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 ORLANDO, FL
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