Orange County holds economic summit

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 Orlando) - The Orange County Regional Economic Summit features some of the success stories of our area businesses and how leaders are looking to continue investing and supporting new ventures.

The future looks bright for job creation and growth in Central Florida. In fact, labor statistics said our area has ranked number one in the nation for the past four years.Local leaders want to keep it that way.

Central Florida may be known as the number one tourism destination in the world, but Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said his goal is for Orange County to be recognized as the most desirable place to do business.

An estimated 72 million visitors travel to Central Florida each year for our booming tourism industry. Mayor Demings said now is the time to show that the area is also a destination for healthcare, technology, manufacturing and other industries both in the private and public sectors.

"We're trying to grow that. What we're trying to do is grow our economy and diversify our committee with higher-paying jobs that are focused in the STEM areas of science, technology, engineering and math.  That brings tremendous opportunity for us," he said.

Last year, Central Florida created over 52,000 jobs, which is an increase of 4.2 percent. So what more can come to Central Florida?Economist Sean Snaith gave his economic forecast for the region. One way Orange County is improving and helping new businesses get established is by reducing turnaround times and converting their permitting process to go online.