Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
If less disposable income keeps Floridians closer to home, Pasco County may benefit during a season that is usually slower.
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2001
High gas prices and a slowing economy loom as businesses that cater to travelers enter the summer season -- traditionally a slow time. But some Pasco business owners think those factors could actually bode well for them, if it means Floridians vacation closer to home.
"A lot of our people come from within the state, and I feel like I'm doing really well from people from Orlando and Lakeland, who, because of the economy, maybe are not going further away," said Trudy Elmore, general manager of the Best Western Tahitian on U.S. 19 in Holiday.
That is exactly the kind of visitor that Pasco's Tourism Development Council is going to start targeting, said Honey Rand, who coordinates Pasco County's tourism efforts. The council is targeting areas such as Ocala, Jacksonville, Orlando and Fort Myers. And it will be marketing venues such as Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park, J.B. Starkey's Flatwoods Adventures and the Pioneer Florida Museum.
Pasco will offer "a nice alternative to what they (visitors) might have otherwise planned," Rand said.
The tourism council's effort goes hand in hand with the efforts of Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing corporation. The agency launched a publication last year called Great Getaways: A Floridian's Guide to Florida, available for free in more than 500 Winn-Dixie grocery stores throughout the state, to capture close-to-home visitors.
Pasco's tourism-related industries also are considering an event complex as a way to buffer the traditionally slow season. The county, the Economic Development Council and the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce are expecting results soon from a study they commissioned to figure out what kind of facility would be viable in Pasco.
For the past decade, the county has been setting aside half of its Tourism Development Tax -- a levy on lodging of less than six months -- in order to help finance such a complex. By the end of October, the county will have collected $5.7-million to that end. But the complex is only under study right now, so Pasco wouldn't start seeing any benefits from it for several years.
Pasco hotels in particular would welcome such a venue. Occupancy rates can plummet in the summer to half of what they are during the winter season, said Tony DeGeorge, president of Greene Canfield DeGeorge Investments, a Clearwater-based broker. In Pasco, occupancy rates average 65 percent annually, compared with 80 percent in some of the beach areas, he added.
"What the hotels need is an attraction up there to bring people in," he said. Werner-Boyce in Port Richey could help, he said.
Hotel owners such as Pat Moran, of the Comfort Inn in Port Richey, rely heavily on bookings from recreational sports leagues such as soccer, billiards and bowling during the summer.
"If we didn't have soccer, there wouldn't be any Memorial Day weekend for us," said Moran, who also sits on Pasco's Tourism Development Council. "In Pasco, either they're on their way somewhere else, they have a meeting or they're coming to see family. We've been working on coming up with some reason for them to stay."
A reason to stay would be welcome for people such as George Malacos, assistant manager of the Inn on the Gulf at Hudson Beach. Though winter and spring traffic has stayed strong there, he's skeptical about the summer.
"We'll see how the economy goes," Malacos said. "If they keep forecasting gloom and doom, people will start believing it." Nancy Bryant, owner of the Azalea House Bed and Breakfast in Dade City, also is worried. She says that traffic has been slower this year than in the past.
"We've had people from Sarasota and Tampa, but not as many as we usually have from out of state," she said. "People just don't have as much disposable income. This is leisure travel, so it's not a necessity, and people aren't as likely to spend as much money when the overall economic forecast is not great."
- Jennifer Goldblatt covers business in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6229 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6229.