ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor’s note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.
The tourism implications from the upcoming debut of Universal Orlando Resort’s Epic Universe theme park in 2025 should bear big fruit for another tourism asset — Orange County’s tourist development tax.
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For example, Central Florida’s hotel inventory — estimated at about 135,000 rooms today — is in line to help generate nearly $400 million in Orange County tourist development taxes a year after Epic Universe’s debut, said data provided by experts with Hotel Development Consultants LLC in Orlando.
Data which used reports from hotel real estate firm CBRE Inc. and travel agencies showed the average occupancy for hotels in 2026 is forecast to reach 77.8%, along with an average daily room rate of $173.65. Those projections translate to as much as $6.65 billion in estimated hotel revenue across all properties — and thus $399.4 million for Orange County’s 6% hotel tax.
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