The coronavirus pandemic has been hit Palm Beach County’s tourism industry Last year the bed tax rallies failed and drew fewer visitors to the sunny, sandy shores.

And 2021 is unlikely to be a big respite. It will likely get worse before it gets better, said Glenn Jergensen, executive director of the Tourist Development Council.

Fewer visitors to Palm Beach County affect how many bed tax dollars are collected from hotel stays. This is money that drives tourism projects and efforts to market the county.

More: In the midst of a pandemic, an attempt to lure tourists back with “open palms”.

Bed taxes fell 20% from a record high of $ 54 million in fiscal 2019 to $ 43 million in fiscal 2020.

That $ 11 million drop wasn’t as devastating as it could have been thanks to a strong winter season just before the pandemic throttled the tourism industry in March, Jergensen said.

“We don’t have that advantage this year,” he said. “Our season is still in the midst of recovery.”

Tourism officials predict that bed tax collection, which depends on the number of people staying in hotels and the amount of hotel fees, will not exceed $ 38 million in fiscal 2021, Jergensen said. This is the lowest in nearly six years before bed taxes, currently 6 cents on the dollar, were levied.

More: 3 town kids spent 7 days in the Palm Beach County wilderness for PBS Special

The effect of Palm Beach County’s historically best months for bed taxes, February and March, remains to be seen.

Bed taxes and visits are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022 or 2023, Jergensen said. But Palm Beach County could grow this summer, usually the slowest part of the year for tourism.

While traditional hotel sales fell, the pandemic marked a trend that could be the future of tourism in the county. Off-hotel room sales, such as house and condo rentals, rose 8% over the past year, in part due to increased rents in Royal Palm Beach and Wellington for the equestrian season.

The economic impact of tourism in Palm Beach County is estimated to be less than $ 6 billion, according to Jergensen, more than $ 1.6 billion less than in 2019.

Palm Beach County had an estimated 5.2 million visitors in 2020, 3 million fewer than the previous year.

More: Could a pandemic bring biotech companies to Jupiter?

Visitor numbers haven’t dropped this low in nearly a decade. Since then, the number of visitors has grown steadily every year.

This reflects the impact of the pandemic on tourism across the state. Florida had a third fewer visitors in 2020 than in 2019. Preliminary figures from Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing agency, said the Sunshine State had 86.7 million visitors in 2020, compared to 131.4 million in 2019.

Visit Florida said on its website that 2020 tourism numbers are “likely to see above-average revisions” due to the impact of the pandemic on data collection. For example, the organization believed that 400,000 fewer overseas tourists actually visited Florida than the reported 3.24 million.

Palm Beach International Airport saw a dramatic drop in passengers in 2020, down 55% overall from the previous year. Only 23,842 passengers flew through the airport in April, the same month the hotels closed, a 96% decrease from the same month in 2019.

The airport is slowly recovering. According to the latest available data, in December 270,867 passengers flew through PBIA, a 63% difference from the same month last year with 730,246 passengers.

hmorse@pbpost.com

@mannahhorse

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR