New Orlando terminal is $2.8 billion bet on Florida tourism

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Visitors to the new terminal at Orlando International Airport may want to wear sunscreen. Sun rays beaming through its windows don’t just peck passengers — they practically smooch them as if they were spending a day at the beach. Accompanied by a plethora of realistic-looking fake palm trees and views of blue skies and billowing clouds, the 1.8 million-square-foot Terminal C lets passengers know they are in Florida. And that’s the point, as the world’s seventh-busiest airport makes a $2.8 billion bet when it opens this week that Florida’s tourism has moved beyond the slowdown of the past two years.