Gas prices didn't stop the state from having a great winter season, and officials have high hopes for summer.
By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published May 13, 2004
Despite soaring gas prices and other economic question marks, Florida tourism just wrapped up its best winter season in years.
And that has tourism executives and experts predicting a bountiful summer.
Visit Florida Inc., the state government's tourist marketing agency, reported Florida drew 22.4-million overnight visitors during the first quarter that ended March 31; a 12 percent increase over the same period a year ago when the nation was gearing up to go to war in Iraq.
Meantime, a recent University of Miami survey of 270 Florida hotel industry leaders said they expect the strong winter performance to continue this summer.
"The first quarter was astounding," said Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced the first quarter figures at a National Tourism Week luncheon in Tampa on Wednesday. "So far there's no evidence gas prices have had any effect on tourism.
"Because exchange rates have made Florida an attractive option, our overseas visitors are coming back in droves."
The governor also said he will sign recently approved legislation that would fund Visit Florida's budget at $20.6-million, restoring most of the sagging revenues the state tourism marketing agency lost with falling rental car taxes. Visit Florida is funded entirely by a tax on car rentals, which have dropped because a larger share of visitors drive their own cars into the state. If not for the legislation, Visit Florida was forecast to get about $18.2-million.
While evidence has been mounting all winter that Florida's fragile tourist industry had regained its stride to pre-2001 levels, industry leaders say the first quarter results prove it.
"We had the best March in the history of this organization," said Paul Catoe, chief executive of the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau in Tampa.
The peak winter season is the most important time of the year for Florida's visitor industry. That's when hotels have the fewest empty rooms and get the highest rates of the year. So without a strong first quarter, managers of the industry that is the state's biggest employer face belt-tightening to get through the rest of the year.
Theme parks, restaurants and airports, however, say the strong winter helped them forget the struggles of their three-year recovery from the terrorist attacks of 2001.
"Our passenger traffic has fully recovered from the effects 9/11," said Louis Miller, director of Tampa International Airport, which reported a 13 percent increase in traffic in March. "Our April figures are looking even better than that."
The far smaller, but fast-growing St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport handled 520,000 passengers during the first quarter, about 103,000 fewer passengers than it did in all of 2002.
While hotels that rely mostly on business travel say they are not completely back to where they were in 2000, they are getting there.
"We've been able to increase both our occupancy and average daily rate," said Mike Keeney, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn North in Tampa. "Our revenue per available room is up 15 percent."
In Pinellas County, the total number of visitors was up 8 percent to 1.1-million through March 31, according to Research Data Services. Local hotel traffic, measured in room nights, rose 5 percent bringing the hotel occupancy rate to 92 percent. Room rates rose slightly.
"April looks to be just as good," said Walter Klages, president of Research Data Services Inc., the Tampa firm that tracks Pinellas tourism. "We are now past the pent-up demand of recovery. This is renewed growth. People choose this area because it is well-known, perceived as safe and consistently delivers a predictable vacation."
Events such as AirFest at MacDill Air Force Base last month and the Chihuly glass exhibit in St. Petersburg that runs through the end of May contributed to local tourist numbers as well.
Statewide, the growth trend was in evidence at Walt Disney World, where attendance was up about 15 percent during the first quarter and the occupancy rates at the theme park giant's hotels were up about 10 percentage points, the company said.
Looking ahead, there still are some clouds lurking, however. Modest inflation could return as interest rates begin rising, putting pressure on wages and other expenses. The country is still at war and terrorists have recently struck elsewhere. Gas prices are soaring, though there have been no shortages.
"We've found that gradually increasing gas prices have no effect on us," said Michael Eisner, chief executive of Walt Disney Co. "Scarcity does, but we have not seen that."
Indeed, with gas prices about 50 cents a gallon higher now than year ago, the driver of a car that gets 20 miles to the gallon may have sticker shock at the pumps. But the fuel cost of a round trip to Tampa to Pittsburgh costs about $60 more than it did.
"The last time we had big gas price increases people economized," said Tom Flanigan, spokesman for Visit Florida. "They went to theme parks two days instead of three or cut their stay by a day. They don't cancel a $1,000 trip because gas costs $60 more."
