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Our roads less traveled by tourists

Fading tourism numbers mirror a broader economic funk.

By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Published January 17, 2008

As the U.S. economy began wheezing last year, the Tampa Bay area's tourism business caught a cold. The big question: Will it recover in time for the crucial spring season?

Statistics released Wednesday showed that travel to the area took a hit at the end of 2007. Passenger traffic at Tampa International Airport was off 2.1 percent in November and 4.2 percent in December from a year earlier. They were the first monthly declines in more than a year.

The number of Pinellas County visitors in commercial lodging went down 7.3 percent in November from a year earlier. It was the third consecutive month in the red. A little more than 283,000 tourists spent a night in Pinellas for the month, most staying with friends and relatives, a drop of 1.2 percent from November 2006.

"Yes, a recession is here," said Walter Klages, the county's tourism research consultant. "The question is where we go from there."

Most economists don't agree a recession is here yet. But predictions for one later in the year are picking up steam. The travel industry is often a leading indicator as companies cut back on business trips and consumers shorten or cancel vacations.

The drop in airport holiday travelers "is evidence it's not a strong economy," said Louis Miller, executive director at Tampa International. "You see Christmas down, Thanksgiving down - that's less incremental travel."

D.T. Minich, Pinellas tourism director, said hotels started feeling the pinch last fall. He's not sure if travelers are worried about the economy or unwilling to pay room rates that rose nearly 10 percent annually in the past couple of years.

Many Florida destinations are in the same boat, he said. Klages ticked off a half dozen other markets where hotel occupancy rates are falling faster than in Pinellas. The number of rooms sold in Hillsborough County dropped nearly 10 percent in November, according to Smith Travel Research, a widely used hotel tracking service in Hendersonville, Tenn.

"You see it all through Florida, everybody's down,"Minich said. "The next two months will really tell us. It's like Christmas for retailers. If hotels don't make money in February and March, they won't make money all year."

Business was down through the fall at the TradeWinds Island Resorts in St. Pete Beach, which relies on a mix of conference and meeting business as well as vacationers, said chief executive Timothy Bogott. Bookings are running ahead of last year for January through March, he said.

Nearby at the Alden Beach Resort, general manager Tony Satterfield relies strictly on tourists. This month, two of five bus tour groups from the Midwest and Canada canceled their annual trips, and others showed up half full. The reason: lack of demand.

"The economy's not very healthy right now,"Satterfield said. "People immediately start cutting out things that aren't necessary, like vacations, dining out, drinking out." His February and March bookings are good so far. But he and other hotel executives worry that an early Easter in mid March will hurt April business.

On Clearwater Beach, Ken Hamilton says the 29-room Palm Pavilion Inn and beach restaurant have weathered the country's economic worries. A shortage of hotel rooms in the city and tight parking at the other end of the beach have kept his business humming.

"If the economy booms, we get a lot of tourists," says Hamilton, president of the family-owned businesses. "If not, local people come over for the day instead of going to Georgia or somewhere up North."

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified January 16, 2008, 22:54:11]