Convention and Events Economy in Orlando

The Orange County Convention Center says it averages nearly 200 events a year, including 115 conventions and tradeshows that draw more than 1.5 million attendees, and it estimates its economic impact on Central Florida at approximately $3.9 billion a year (Orange County Convention Center).

Those are the convention center's own figures for recent years. The OCCC states its mission plainly: economic development, by hosting conventions, trade shows, sporting events and more that bring new money and business opportunities into the local economy (Orange County Convention Center).

Visit Orlando, the area's tourism marketing organization, publishes its own 2025 year end hotel results, which put Orlando hotel demand at 34.5 million room nights across a hotel room inventory of 132,685, with average occupancy of 71.4% and an average daily rate of $202.71 (Visit Orlando).

The Orange County Convention Center has 7 million total square feet in two buildings, with 2,055,222 square feet of exhibit space, 70 meeting rooms and 226 breakout rooms on International Drive (Orange County Convention Center).

The West Building also holds the 62,182 square foot Valencia Ballroom, the 2,643 seat Linda W. Chapin Theater and a 160 seat lecture hall, according to the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC facts). Its Center-to-Table Gardens cover 2,000 square feet of aeroponic gardens with 81 towers and 3,564 plants. Its main phone is (407) 685-9800 and toll free (800) 345-9845.

Attendees reach the Orlando convention center by car, LYNX bus, I-RIDE Trolley or taxi, and its on-site parking is cashless at $22 plus tax, or $23.43, per standard vehicle (OCCC Getting Here; OCCC Parking).

The center lists three concourse addresses in Orlando 32819: the West Concourse at 9800 International Drive, the North Concourse at 9400 Universal Blvd and the South Concourse at 9899 International Drive (OCCC Getting Here).

Oversized vehicles pay $44 plus tax, $46.86, and the OCCC warns that prices may increase by event and parking availability (OCCC Parking). The West Building lot is reached from Exhibit Drive, Convention Way or West Entrance Drive off Westwood Boulevard. The North-South Building lot has two entrances, Universal Boulevard on the north side and International Drive on the south side, and the OCCC encourages the Universal Boulevard entrance for North-South Building events. The Destination Parkway Parking Garage, two blocks west on International Drive, opens based on event activity.

Beyond the center's own lots, the OCCC counts more than 23,000 on-site and off-site parking spaces in the district and nearly 10,000 hotel rooms within walking distance, with pedestrian bridges to connecting hotels (OCCC Getting Here). Its taxi fare estimates are $45 to $50 from Orlando International Airport (MCO), $42 to $45 from the Kia Center downtown, which it notes was formerly the Amway Center, and $130 from Sanford Airport.

By bus, LYNX lists Links 8, 38, 42, 311 and 350 for the Orange County Convention Center (LYNX). Two of them, Links 42 and 311, also appear on the LYNX list for Orlando International Airport, which makes them the routes to check for a no-transfer airport ride to International Drive. The I-RIDE Trolley also stops in front of the West and North-South buildings, and trolley passes are sold at the OCCC Guest Services desk (OCCC Getting Here).

BLS counted 2,247 private jobs at Orange County convention and trade show organizers in 2025 and 59,638 at hotels and motels, two industries tied directly to Orlando convention business (BLS QCEW).

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages reports Orange County as a whole, so it includes the International Drive hotel corridor and downtown Orlando together, and it does not separate convention guests from leisure guests at hotels. BLS supplies the industry names in its titles list (BLS industry titles).

Hotels dominate the Orange County picture: 405 hotel and motel establishments averaged 59,638 jobs in 2025, up 951 from 2024, at an average annual pay of $50,938 (BLS QCEW). Convention and trade show organizers are a far smaller group, 96 establishments, but they pay more on average, $72,825 a year, and added 90 jobs.

Section 125.0104 lets a county such as Orange County spend tourist development tax revenue on publicly owned and operated convention centers, and add up to 1 percent more by referendum for convention center bond debt service (Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes).

The base tax may be used to acquire, construct, maintain, operate or promote such a center. Under the additional tax, a county that has elected the convention center bond purpose may also pay convention center operation and maintenance costs for a period of up to 10 years, or for the life of the bonds if it elected the purpose after July 1, 2000; the cited Orlando sources do not say which of these uses Orange County has chosen (Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes).

For the Orange County Convention Center and similar venues, the statute lists convention centers alongside sports stadiums, arenas, coliseums and auditoriums inside the county or special taxing district that levies the tax, and it allows the tax to promote and advertise tourism in Florida, nationally and internationally (Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes). It also sets a base rate of 1 percent or 2 percent of each dollar of the total consideration charged for a taxable lease or rental, and lets the county board add another 1 percent by referendum for the purposes in subsection (5).

That matters for Orlando because the statute taxes rentals of hotel and motel accommodations for a term of 6 months or less, so a tax paid on an International Drive hotel stay during a convention is revenue the statute allows a county to put toward a convention center (Section 125.0104, Florida Statutes).

Orange County's own current tourist development tax rate and collections could not be confirmed on a county page that loaded when this guide was checked, so no Orange County rate or total is given here. The Orange County Convention Center's own pages describe the center by its economic development mission rather than by its tax funding (Orange County Convention Center).

The Orange County Convention Center's capital plan renovates 25 North-South Building meeting rooms from April 2025 to an anticipated May 2029 and 79 North-South Building restrooms from an anticipated August 2026 to August 2030 (OCCC Capital Improvements).

Other OCCC projects on the list: exterior stair and steel remediation on the North-South Building from September 2026 to September 2027, and a renovation of the North-South food courts and restaurants, including turning the Destination Lounge into a food service retail space, from an anticipated March 2027 to September 2029 (OCCC Capital Improvements). The restroom work is phased by hall, starting with North Hall A in 2026 to 2027, so planners booking that hall should ask the center which restrooms will be open.

One OCCC project date is already past: the North-South parking lot show power upgrade, eight new 400 amp services, still shows an anticipated finish of June 2026, while a phase II with new electrical equipment and removable light poles runs from June 2026 to February 2027 (OCCC Capital Improvements). The page still listed that first phase as anticipated when it was checked.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the Orange County Convention Center facts, parking, getting here and capital improvements pages, LYNX, Visit Orlando data and the BLS QCEW 2025 file.