Pinellas County tourism is seeing better numbers than even the pre-COVID levels of 2019 so far this year. | File photo
Pinellas County tourism is seeing better numbers than even the pre-COVID levels of 2019 so far this year. | File photo
Florida's laid-back attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have resulted in a boom for the tourism industry in the Tampa Bay, Clearwater and St. Petersburg areas.
Data from April 2021 shows that tourism in Pinellas County exceeded levels in both April 2020 and 2019, meaning that tourism has officially come back stronger since the COVID crisis. There were 10 days in April when hotel occupancy rates exceeded 90%, with Memorial Day weekend topping the list with rates of more than 95% occupancy.
Taxes collected for each night someone spends in a hotel, called bed collections, increased by $2 million from 2019 to $8.7 million in April 2021, accounting for an almost 30% increase, according to Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.
The year 2019 was a record year for Tampa Bay-area tourism, so last April's tourist numbers exceeding April 2019 inspires optimism among industry experts.
“We knew [this year] was going to be better than 2020, but the fact that it beat 2019, that was the shocker,” Visit St. Pete/Clearwater President Steve Hayes said.
Bookings for the remainder of 2021 are also breaking area records, according to New Hotel Collection’s founding partner Tommy Del Zoppo.
TradeWinds Island Grand in St. Petersburg manager Travis Johnson said his bookings for 2021 are also on track to increase from 2019 levels, despite the lack of corporate reservations planned far in advance. Visitors from the Midwest and Southeast are making up for this shortfall due to the great degree of freedom for businesses in Florida throughout the COVID-19 crisis compared to other states, say tourism officials.
Similar success also was experienced in nearby Hillsborough County, with Visit Tampa Bay predicting record-breaking numbers in the second half of 2021. Santiago Corrada, CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, said groups have been relocating to the area from places with strict lockdown restrictions such as Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., Chicago, New York and Nevada.
“If April 2020 is the bottom, this shows you how far we’ve climbed back,” Hayes said.
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