The economy of the Orlando area is dominated by the massive, year-round tourism drawn by theme parks. With an estimated annual attendance of more than 30 million people in the mid-1990s, the parks are constantly being enhanced and expanded. Tourist facilities have mushroomed to handle the hundreds of thousands of visitors who may be in the area at any one time. The largest hotel complexes are located on the enormous Disney property itself, on the older highway strips in Kissimmee and other towns on Disney's doorstep, and along Interstate 4 paralleling International Drive just southwest of Orlando. This massive vacation complex has also made the city a popular convention site, and in the mid-1990s expansion began on the Orange County Convention Center to make it one of the largest in the nation.
Business and industry also expanded in Orlando in the 1990s, developing mainly east and north of the city to avoid the tourism centers. Aerospace equipment, electronic components, computer microchips, aircraft loading equipment, snack foods, ambulances, and beverages are manufactured in the region. The city also is home to firms producing computer software, and a number of industrial corporations have built research-and-development facilities in the area. Citrus fruit processing remains a significant activity. Major new office complexes as well as corporate headquarters have been built in the Interstate 4 corridor north of Orlando in the 1980s and 1990s; here Maitland has become one of Florida's largest and most important business centers.
