ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted 6-1 Tuesday to approve the use of tourism development tax funding for other projects it hopes will bring more tourism to the area.
It includes a $400 million investment for upgrades at Camping World Stadium and also no more than $226 million for improvements at the Kia Center, formerly known as the Amway Center.
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“We will be able to make an investment into Camping World Stadium and make sure that it continues to be competitive,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
The board also approved a reduction of $15 million to local tourism group, Visit Orlando.
The commission approved allocating that funding towards the Sports Incentive Commission, the Greater Orlando Sports Commission and for arts and cultural events across the county.
“We have expanded what we are going to invest in which includes our arts and cultural events here within this community, to support and benefit taxpayers throughout Orange County. This includes venues where they may be able to rent and perform,” said Demings.
The changes come after the commission last year approved $560 million to expand a portion of the Orange County Convention Center.
Casandra Matej is the President and CEO of Visit Orlando.
She’s calling the overall use of the TDT funding voted on Tuesday as a win for the Orange County community. However, she said the $15 million reduction to Visit Orlando will force them to make adjustments to their marketing strategies.
“This year we were in 10 international markets so we’re going to have to look at the data and see what would make the make sense to maybe re- evaluate that investment,” said Matej.
The Orange County Commission will also do an audit of the Visit Orlando 2024 budget, which the president and CEO said she welcomes.
Mayor Jerry Demings said the Dr. Philips Center can choose to submit a research study about how they could use the TDT funding and submit that before the county commission at a later date.
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