Diane Crews, vice president of administration at the airport, tells GlobeSt.com the developer and the airport are still reviewing a national brand for the hotel. "It's been a long time coming," Crews says. The 5.7-acre development site is west of Lake Golden on Airport Boulevard.

"Hotel facilities and group meeting facilities are a benchmark of airport growth and development," says Larry Dale, president, Sanford Airport Authority and a former mayor of Sanford. "It will prove a tremendous benefit to our passengers and to the airport community." Dale adds, "We aren't just an international airport anymore. Now we're an international airport with a major hotel." The hotel project announcement comes as the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau projects that numbers of tourists visiting the area in 2006 will be about 50.8 million, or an estimated 3.7% above the 2005 total.