Experts say it’s too soon to gauge whether a week of horrific news out of Orlando will hurt tourism there. But travel agents are not seeing widespread cancellations, and many travelers say they’re committed to visiting.
“I had more people worrying last year about, ‘Should I postpone my trip because of Ebola?'” than are worried about going to Orlando, said Cindy Minor, owner of Small World Big Fun, a travel agency specializing in Disney vacations based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Orlando has been rocked in the past week by three events: the mass murder of 49 people in a nightclub, the fatal shooting of singer Christina Grimmie after a concert, and a 2-year-old killed by an alligator at a Disney World resort lagoon. It remains to be seen whether the bad news will shake Orlando’s status as the top tourist destination in the U.S., with 66 million visitors in 2015.
“Not one person has said, ‘Put the trip off,’ or ‘We were thinking about it but we want to wait,'” Minor said. For many travelers, she added, the choice comes down to this: “Are you going to sit and be scared in your house? Or are you going to live your life and make memories with your family?”
Karen L. Brown of Glasgow, Scotland, was among many who posted hearts on Visit Orlando’s Facebook page. She and her extended family of six pledged to stick with plans for a 2017 Orlando trip. “We love everything Orlando,” she said in an email. “I haven’t even considered cancelling.”