Tourism during the recent peak season of January through March is healthy, Joe St. Germain, of Down and St. Germain Research, told members of the Bradenton Area Tourist Development Council (TDC) on June 15.
In the first quarter, 614,600 visitors spent 776,600 room nights and spent $633,686,300, St. Germain said. Hotels and vacation rentals had 76% occupancy and charged $305.97 as an average daily rate.
In the visitor profile, St. Germain reported that 29% of visitors were first-time visitors with a median household income of $135,400. They stayed an average of 6.4 days. More than half were couples with a median age of 60. Others had an average party size of 2.7 people. Most discovered the destination on internet search engines.
Visitors came primarily from the Northeast, with New York City leading the way, followed by Minneapolis, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Their top three activities while visiting were dining out, going to the beach and shopping, and the majority of trips were made for leisure, not business.
The data helps county tourism officials understand visitors so that they can market more effectively to the people most likely to visit, he said.
Marketing efforts are targeted to potential visitors who can afford the area, said Elliott Falcione, director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
TDC member Dan Diggins, a Holmes Beach commissioner, expressed concern about the increased traffic on Anna Maria Island, citing a license plate reader in Holmes Beach that indicates 36,000 vehicles a day entered and left the city in peak tourism season at the intersection of Gulf Drive and Manatee Avenue, up from 25,000 five years ago. The figures do not account for the two other entrances to the island.
“At some point the island is going to get saturated with vehicles,” said Diggins, who added that he often has trouble getting out of his island driveway.
“In four to five years we’ll be at 500,000 population. The length of the beaches hasn’t changed,” Falcione said, noting that the county’s water ferry was launched to help address the problem. “We’ve got to keep hacking away at it.”
Cindy Lane is a staff writer for the Tampa Bay Beacons. She can be reached at clane@tbnweekly.com.