2007 Florida Highlights

Early estimates of tourist numbers for 2007 were that overall numbers might fall or at best remain fairly static after a poor first quarter with visitor numbers down by 1.6%. Reasons given include reduced advertising in real terms by the Florida tourist boards and worries about the weather which could cause potential visitors to look elsewhere.

The second and third quarters actually showed an increase of 2.3% and 4.8% respectively so it looks like numbers may end up higher than the 83.9 million visitors in 2006.

For Florida highlights in 2008, click here.

Best Beaches

As in previous years, Florida continues to have some of the best beaches in the United States, only beaten by Hawaii.

Dr. Stephen Leatherman, Ph.D. "Dr. Beach" from Florida International University ranked Caladesi Island State Park in Dunedin/Clearwater in second place, Lighthouse Point Park in Daytona Beach in ninth place and Siesta Beach in Sarasota County in tenth place.

Only swimming beaches are considered and previous winners are automatically excluded from the latest survey.

Florida beaches that have previously taken the top spot are Fort DeSoto Park, North Beach in St Petersburg in 2005, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in 2002, St. Andrews SRA (State Recreation Area) in 1995, Grayton Beach SRA in 1994 and Bahia Honda SRA in 1992.

New rides and attractions

A number of new rides, shows and attractions are due to open during 2007 as the major theme parks continue to compete for visitors, including:

NASA missions

After successfully launching three space shuttle missions in 2006, NASA planned to launch a further five missions to the International Space Station in 2007, the first being the Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-117 on March 16. Four further launches were planned for June September, October and December.

Unfortunately, the foam on the external tank of Atlantis was damaged by a hailstorm whilst sat on the launch pad and the launch was pushed back until June. This has a knock on effect on the remaining launches and in the end the second Atlantis mission which had been rescheduled for December was then pushed into January 2008 following problems with fuel cut-off sensors on the external tank whilst again sat on the launch pad.

The impact of these two delays has meant that NASA was only able to launch three missions to the International Space Station in 2007.

The recently announced Constellation program to put astronauts back on the Moon and ultimately on Mars, is not expected to start trial launches of the Ares rocket until Spring 2009.

Hurricanes and the Florida weather

Early hurricane predictions for 2007 forecast an above-average year with 14 to 17 named storms, seven of them becoming hurricanes, of which three could become major (category 3 and above) hurricanes. These predictions were later downgraded to around 15 to 16 named storms with seven to nine hurricanes of which four to five would become major hurricanes.

In hindsight, the predictions for 2007 were as equally pessimistic as the 2006 predictions and luckily though there were 15 named storms, only five became hurricanes and of those only two developed into major hurricanes.

It is believed that one of the reasons why the 2006 season was quieter than expected was because of a particularly strong El Nino. The downside to this is that the same weather system can bring more severe storms and tornadoes during the Spring, like the ones that hit Central Florida on Christmas Day 2006 and this is what happened with 21 people being killed by tornadoes in Lake County in February 2007.

The lowlights

Several of the smaller theme parks and attractions have got into financial difficulties in 2007 including:

Early in 2007, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission published figures that showed that 2006 was a record year for manatee deaths (at least 416). Despite this, they are considering downgrading the manatee from endangered to threatened.

During 2007, gas (petrol) prices jumped over 3 dollars a gallon, still a lot cheaper than in Europe but way above normal US prices.

Whilst 2007 saw a reductions in deaths due to alligator attacks, Florida's weather again took its toll with the deadly tornadoes in February.

Looking further ahead

The new Toy Story Mania ride is due to open at Disney-MGM Studios in late 2008, replacing the Who Wants to be a Millionaire attraction which closed in 2006.

Universal Studios have announced that they have signed a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. to bring Harry Potter to Universal. A new theme park within a theme park called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" will open inside Universal's Islands of Adventure some time in late 2009/early 2010.

They also intend to open a new Simpsons ride in the now closed "Back to the Future: The Ride" building in the Spring of 2008.

Ron Jons had announced plans to build a water park and resort on the Banana River at Port Canaveral near their enormous surf shop at Cocoa Beach and it was expected to open in 2010 but plans appear to have been dropped.

To read about Florida highlights for other years, just follow the links to 2009, 2008 or 2006.