Despite last year's punch from hurricanes, a record number of tourists flooded into Florida in 2004.

Preliminary figures released Monday by Visit Florida put the 2004 total at 76.8 million, about 3 percent more than in 2003.

'That was a record,' Visit Florida spokeswoman Vanessa Welter said. 'We've been steadily going up' ever since a brief dip in 2001.

The state estimated that 72.8 million visited in 2000, followed by 69.5 million in 2001 -- a rare dip blamed on that year's recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackings. The numbers then resumed climbing, in 2002 to 73.9 million and in 2003 to 74.5 million.

The coming summer will be a test of whether public perceptions of last year's storm damage will affect the industry's rebound, said Scott Openshaw, spokesman for the Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.

'We're cautiously optimistic,' Openshaw said. 'We were pleased that the numbers were up,' though he stopped short of calling it a surprise. 'The quarterly numbers were pointing that way,' he noted.

Representatives of Visit Florida, the state's public-private tourism marketing agency, said that some of the boost in visitation for 2004 was caused by 'travelers' who were actually part of the hurricane relief and reconstruction efforts. Exactly how many is unclear.

Numbers for Orlando and other local markets are not broken out in the statewide report.

Visitor spending totals for 2004 are not yet available, either, Visit Florida said, but tourism spending -- from out-of-state visitors as well as in-state tourists -- was already at record levels of $51.8 billion through November. With a month to go, that still surpassed the 2003 full-year spending total of $51.5 billion.

But tourism marketers are taking no chances that the upcoming summer may be tarnished by the images of devastation flashed worldwide when an unprecedented string of four powerful storms raked Florida last August and September.

The state has a special, $4.75 million marketing campaign designed to help polish Florida's image for the upcoming summer -- specifically for the June through November travel period, coinciding with hurricane season.

Gov. Jeb Bush, whose Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development oversees Visit Florida, said the targeted marketing is needed to 'reassure travelers that Florida is a safe, sunny and welcoming destination.'
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2004* -- 76.8 million
2003 -- 74.5 million
2002 -- 73.9 million
2001 -- 69.5 million
2000 -- 72.8 million

Note: * = Preliminary