CLEARWATER, Florida (WFLA) – Gulf beaches are busy again, but the flood of travelers flying to Florida could also affect your family’s summer plans.
8 If you’re trying to book a summer getaway, you may need to act quickly before you’re unlucky.
Local vacation spots like the Camelot Hotel and the Clearwater Beach condo are fully booked this weekend.
“The commemorative weekend is sold out, it will be soon, next weekend is the weekend right now [full]… Between Booking.com, Expedia and our locals, ”said Vickie Rodriguez, GM of The Camelot Hotel & Condo.
8 On Your Side spoke to some of her guests who were glad they weren’t in Chicago.
“Just visiting, it’s the first time my son has been on the beach,” said Holly Pink, standing by the pool with her son Malichi. “I just wanted to swim in Florida!” exclaimed her son.
Visit St. Pete / Clearwater President and CEO Steve Hayes says tourism is great for the economy recovering from the pandemic.
“The loss we saw during the 2020 pandemic was nearly $ 2 billion. We want to come back to it because it helps businesses small and large, ”said Hayes.
Hayes said the numbers are already looking better than they were before the pandemic.
“If you look at April 2020, this was the lowest hotel occupancy in our history at 20%. But in April 2021 we were at 86%, which is above what we saw in 2019, ”explained Hayes.
Meanwhile, locals like Roger Wayne are enjoying the people boom.
“It’s usually not that full right now. But now the beaches are full, the restaurants full, last night you had to wait 20-30 minutes for almost everyone. This is usually not the case. It wasn’t like that a year or two ago, ”Wayne said.
The main message of the hotels for all locals is to overcome the onslaught of in-flight visitors and book now.
If you want to save a few bucks on your stay, Rodriguez says you need to book early and call direct as in most cases calling the hotel direct will give you a cheaper rate.
