Destination has over 30,000 vacation homes that range in size from two to 18 bedrooms

DT Minich, president and CEO of Experience Kissimmee, made his annual summer visit to Canada in mid-July to meet with both travel advisors and tour operators to reinforce the Kissimmee brand and to give them some insights of what’s new in the destination.

And Minich was quick to make it abundantly clear that “the Canadian market is so important” to Kissimme, explaining that “we’ve been blessed with continually gaining more lift [from Canada] into MCO – Orlando International – from not only Toronto and Montreal, but Calgary and Vancouver.”

In fact, Minich was pleased to report on Air Canada’s plans to put some winter, seasonal service in from Halifax, Ottawa and Quebec City, observing: “So, we’ve got lots of good capacity into Orlando and we just want to reiterate what the destination is all about.”

One of the key messages that Minich brought with him on his mid-July visit – one that he has delivered on previous occasions while in Canada – focusses on the destination’s large inventory of vacation home rentals offered to visitors.

Minich emphasized that Kissimmee’s vacation home inventory is “what really sets us apart from Orlando and Central Florida,” and he continued, “we have over 30,000 vacation homes that range in size from two bedrooms up to 18 bedrooms and all of our vacation home product is custom built as vacation rentals. No one lives in these homes. They’re not like AirBnb. They’re professionally managed, professionally maintained and with that comes the fact that they’re all travel agent commissionable and a lot of that [vacation home] product is featured by the tour operators as well.”

As an added selling point for agents, Experience Kissimmee’s President & CEO observed: “I think the value proposition is really important to Canadians and, you know, you can rent a three-bedroom house, with a swimming pool in the backyard and a barbecue for as little as $200 a night.”

As for business, Minich said that it has been “extremely good,” explaining that 2023 was a record-breaking year in terms of numbers, bed tax collection and “pretty much everything” and so far, 2024 is on par with 2023.

Certainly, Canada continues to be a strong market for Kissimmee, with Minich noting that Experience Kissimmee will be “bringing up many of our partners in late September, early October for a sales mission” and that mission will be “visiting Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver” as “we’re putting some emphasis on the West Coast [Canada] markets this year;” which is due to the fact that there is increased lift coming out of that part of the country in 2024.

Now while Kissimmee is the gateway to a host of theme parks, it also offers its visitors access to a number of nature-based activities and attractions.

Minich points to the fact that visitors can kayak on Shingle Creek which is the headwaters of the Everglades; there are airboat experiences that allow visitors to see gators in the wild; there’s ziplining; and a whole lot more.

“You can be standing in the shadow of the world’s most famous castle in the morning and in the afternoon, literally 25 minutes away from that castle, you can be kayaking in the shadows of 300- and 400-year old Cypress trees,” Minich said.

And he added: “For families, you can take the kids to all the fun, manmade attractions one day and the next day incorporate some nature and maybe a little bit of education about the ecological part of Florida — so, it’s a great combination.”

So, what about travel agents? Where do they fit in Experience Kissimmee’s plans?

Well, said Minich: “They’re very important to us in the Canadian market,” and he continued that part of the reason for his mid-July visit is to plan for the coming year and part of that plan will see Experience Kissimmee “looking at hosting multiple fams, doing a lot of travel agent educational seminars and activities.”

For more on what’s new in Kissimmee, click here.