South Walton sees spike in tourism numbers this spring

WALTON COUNTY, Florida (WJHG / WECP) –

The more people familiarize themselves with travel again, the more thousands come to the beach.

In South Walton, the increase in tourism has been significant.

“The prices we are currently seeing are similar to a busy summer month and that is not typical of our area, but it shows another effect that pandemic travel has,” said David Demarest with Visit South Walton.

Tourism officials said rentals, condos and hotels are 93 percent occupied this weekend.

“That even corresponds to our weekend on July 4th,” said Demarest.

Local entrepreneurs are also seeing more customers.

“The spring break has been incredible for our business. It seems like it has developed more and more every week. The electric bikes are becoming increasingly popular, especially given the traffic on the 30A freeway,” said Carl Klein, manager at Pedego.

They said the influx of travelers was particularly beneficial as there was no spring break last year due to the pandemic.

“That was really busy, I think 30A is about to have the busiest summer it has ever seen, especially when everything is open and everyone says,” Oh my god we can go here, we can go to Florida ” said Kyle Walter of Grayton Beer Brewpub.

Visit South Walton tourism guides said although many colleges canceled their spring break this year, it did not affect them as they usually mostly visit families.

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