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Thursday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida continues all-time tourism record
Gov. Rick Scott announced Florida set another record in tourism by welcoming the highest amount of visitors of any nine months in the state’s history with 79.1 million visitors, according to VISIT FLORIDA. This record amount of visitors represents a 5.5 percent increase over the previous year. In the third quarter of 2015, 25.5 million visitors came to the state, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2014 and Florida’s largest third quarter for visitation ever. Full story here.
Airbnb to start paying taxes in Florida
Renting a place to stay in Florida with the Airbnb service will become more expensive next month as the online company begins collecting state and county taxes. Airbnb says it will start collecting sales tax and local tourism development taxes starting Dec. 1. The announcement makes Florida the fourth — and largest — state to charge taxes on Airbnb rentals. More at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune., the Tampa Bay Times, and the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
» Your turn: Do you think it's good that Airbnb will pay taxes (and raise fees)?
Florida hospitals say they spent $1.5 billion in charity care
The Florida Hospital Association released its annual report Wednesday, noting it provided inpatient care for 2.7 million people and treated 9.5 million patients in emergency rooms in 2014. Hospitals contributed a total of $4.2 billion in community benefits, including charity care. More from NBC Miami.
Theme park industry gazes beyond Orlando to the next mecca
Universal Studios and Disney World draw hundreds of thousands of tourists to the Sunshine State every year, but the giant entertainment companies were hardly mentioned by global theme park industry leaders at an annual industry conference this week. More at the Tampa Bay Times.
Invasive fruit fly devastates some South Florida farms
Miami-Dade agriculture officials say they have not spotted an Oriental Fruit Fly for about a month, giving hope that the invasive species may be gone. All this after the county took on a major eradication program to get rid of the flies. More from CBS Miami.
Around the State
Important connections
The most important flight to land at Orlando International Airport in a decade touched down just before noon on Sept. 8 — an A380 operated by Emirates coming from Dubai. The arrival marked the beginning of daily, non-stop flights that Emirates will fly between Orlando and the Middle East.
Small Business
Top 10 cities for black-owned small businesses
Black-owned businesses are on a roll. In 2007, African-Americans ran 7.1 percent of businesses in the United States. Five years later, that number grew to 9.4 percent—even during a recession—according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Two of the nation's top ten cities for black-owned small businesses are in Florida.
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