By Elijah Penn, Copyeditor
“You know it’s fall in Florida when the license plates start changing color,” Floridians joke as the weather grows cooler.
Indeed, Florida is consistently ranked among the top states for tourism and seasonal living.
According to Florida Realty Marketplace, it is estimated that with one million seasonal residents per year, Florida’s population increases by five percent (one million people) in the colder months.
World Population Review published data in 2023 that reveals only 35.14 percent of people living in Florida were born in the state. This is the lowest percentage of native-born citizens of all states except Nevada.
As someone who was born in the state of Florida, it can be a strange sensation to feel outnumbered by newcomers in one’s own neighborhood.
I recall one year when I volunteered at a citrus expo at the Florida State Fair. Each person that I spoke with made some reference to “My neighbor in California,” or “At my house in Michigan.” No one, it seemed, at the state fair was from the state.
Being outnumbered presents an interesting dilemma for native-born Floridians. Most people I know who were born locally have immense pride in what they see as the greatest state in the nation.
I have heard many long rants and, admittedly, spoken about how people move in from other places and gradually change their culture and values to those of their own homes.
Perhaps these jeremiads are unfair to those who genuinely wish to make Florida their home, but there are valid concerns about thousands of people moving into any state each year.
A conservationist once explained to me that when the local environment disappears, giving way to countless new homes and businesses, those who move into those homes have no reference for what was lost until, years from now, the cow pasture they pass on their way to work becomes anapartment complex. They may complain about the new construction across the street, oblivious to the fact that their own driveway was once someone else’s complaint. And so, the cycle repeats.
Chair of the Department and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Saint Leo University, Dr. Karen Hannel is a fifth-generation Floridian.
“I love this place, but it breaks my heart. I have watched so many wild places paved over inch by inch. I have watched fragile ecosystems flattened beneath the weight of endless development,” said Hannel.
Outside of her role at Saint Leo University, Hannel is Vice President of Chipco Preserve in San Antonio, Florida.
Chipco Preserve is a volunteer-run nonprofit organization with all funds going to environmental efforts as well as native and veteran communities.
Hannel encouraged people to follow Chipco Preserve’s social media pages for updates.
“What is most beautiful draws the most attention, and what draws the most attention can be crushed beneath the weight of endless desire,” said Hannel about Florida.
“Balance begins when Florida accepts that its beauty is not endless, and that protecting wetlands, springs, and coastlines is not an obstacle to prosperity but the very condition of it,” Hannel concluded.
While there may be cultural and environmental friction between Floridians and their guests, the inescapable reality is that tourism keeps the state’s heart beating.
In an article, Dr. Rachel J.C. Fu, a professor in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Management at the University of Florida, summarized the concerns of many Floridians.
“Floridians want the jobs and economic stability tourism brings, but not at the expense of their neighborhoods, natural resources, and sense of belonging,” Fu said.
Fu notes the downsides of tourism, like increased traffic, decreased housing affordability, environmental challenges, and the “cultural erosion” of communities. However, she also brought to light its bright side: tax revenue, jobs, and economic stability.
It is true: the tourists and the snowbirds get a bad rap with the locals. Yet, it cannot be forgotten that these visitors power the state.
VisitFlorida.org found that Florida’s revenue from tourism, of which snowbirds were a significant contributor, was $134.9 billion in 2024. This translates to an average of $2,000 tax savings per household in the state. An estimated 99 cents per dollar spent on tourism in the state is retained in the Florida economy (a two-cent increase from 2023). The tourism industry supported 1.8 million jobs in 2024.
In 2024, Florida saw 143 million visitors, and when the second-quarter 2025 data was last reported, it was on track to break that record, according to VisitFlorida.com and FLgov.com.
Along with the increase in tourism in Florida, Florida’s economy is becoming increasingly dependent on tourism. VisitFlorida.org reported that “the Travel & Tourism sector accounted for 7.8% of Florida’s Nominal Gross State Product (GSP).”
“Native Floridians might remember that nearly all of us are newcomers to this land unless we are Indigenous, and that humility, shared responsibility, and care for place matter more than one-upmanship over who arrived first,” Hannel reminds us.
Addressing new and seasonal residents, “Florida is not a backdrop but a living place, and that we stand not above its land and waters, its birds, fish, and animals, but alongside them, owing a debt of care and restraint for the harm we have already done,” said Hannel.
