Nov. 21–MIAMI — Despite Hurricane Irma's passage, Florida welcomed an estimated 27.9 million visitors in the July-September quarter, an increase of 3.3 percent over the third quarter in 2016 and the third record quarter in a row.

Gov. Rick Scott at a news conference in an ice cream shop in Little Havana on Monday said the 88.2 million tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2017 was the highest number of visitors of any nine months in the state's history.

"Florida has had three record quarters in 2017, which would not be possible without our relentless work to market Florida as the top tourism destination," Scott said. "This includes Visit Florida's aggressive marketing efforts to make sure families across the world knew that Florida was open for tourism following Hurricane Irma."

The storm passed the length of the state, causing particularly serious damage in the Keys and the Naples area, Sept. 10 and 11.

For the nine months, 77.6 million visitors were from elsewhere in the U.S., 7.9 million from overseas and 2.7 million from Canada, Scott said at Azucar Ice Cream Co., a locally owned ice cream shop that is one of Little Havana's top tourist destinations.

In the third quarter, 24.9 million were domestic, 2.6 million from overseas and 428,

Arrivals at Florida's 18 major airports in the third quarter increased 2.4 percent, to 20 million, compared with the same period last year. The number of hotel rooms sold in the quarter grew by 4.7 percent, the state's average daily room rate increased by 3 percent and its occupancy rose 2.9 percent.

"Back-to-back-to-back record quarters in the first nine months of this year show the Florida tourism industry has great momentum," Ken Lawson, president and CEO of Visit Florida, said in a news release.

Scott used the announcement to nudge lawmakers, who at one point this year had moved to eliminate Visit Florida and the state's economic development agency, Enterprise Florida. A compromise reached with state House Speaker Richard Corcoran salvaged the $76 million tourism budget for one more year. And the Legislature slashed state money for Enterprise Florida's daily operations from $23.5 million last year to $16 million for the budget year that began July 1.

"We will work with the Legislature to invest $100 million for Visit Florida this upcoming session to continue this success and make sure Florida can continue to break tourism records," Scott said.

Scott pushed to reopen the Keys to visitors by an Oct. 1 deadline, but some tourism businesses in the Keys are still getting back to business.

The storm-ravaged Islamorada Resort Co. is slowly staggering the return of its four properties, noting Monday that Amara Cay Resort will be the first to welcome visitors, starting Dec. 15.

The company's Pelican Cove Resort & Marina is scheduled to reopen Jan. 12, while work continues with no set reopening for Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina and La Siesta Resort & Marina.