The tourism industry is recovering
Justin Matthews reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – – Every time someone stays at a hotel, 6% of the bill goes straight to the local economy, and the revenue from that tax broke records in March, according to St. Pete-Clearwater.
“Our recovery has been amazing,” said Leroy Bridges of Visit St. Pete-Clearwater. “We heard from many hoteliers, attractions and our industry partners in March and April that it was the busiest they have ever seen in this destination and our latest tax numbers confirm it is.”
Bed tax receipts reached nearly $ 9.7 million in March Pinellas County. That’s $ 100,000 more than Visit St. Pete-Clearwater’s previous record month in 2019.
“When the bed tax is strong and healthy, the visit is strong and healthy, and when you have the best month the destination has ever seen, that’s remarkable,” said Bridges.
A similar success was felt in Hillsborough County also.
“We’re doing it with no international visits, we’re doing it with conventions that are about 50% personal, and we’re just killing it, we’re 10% less than 2019,” said Santiago Corrada, CEO of Visit Tampa Bay.
Hillsborough County’s 2019 tourism numbers still hold the record, but last March narrowed down a lot, and with 2,000 more hotel rooms in the county compared to 2019, Visit Tampa Bay expects more record numbers as we get into the second half from 2021.
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A big reason for this is conventions. Seventeen were postponed or relocated to Tampa; bring in approximately $ 39 million by the end of the year.
“We have groups moving from Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Chicago, Nevada, New York. We have groups moving to us from Philadelphia,” Corrada said.
Hillsborough County hotel occupancy is 80 to 90 percent on Fridays and Saturdays. According to Corrada, the consistency is much higher compared to previous years.
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