Longboat Key sees healthy start to season

Longboat Key isn’t the top beach in the country, according to Dr. Beach. Siesta Beach took the top prize in 2011, with Longboat Key’s white sand beaches snubbed once again by the website that describes itself as “America’s Foremost Beach Expert.”

But Longboat Key still is getting a healthy dose of tourism, some of which local hoteliers and officials say could be the result of Siesta Beach’s top ranking, along with overall improvements in the economy and this season’s warm weather.

Karen Rangel, regional director of sales at Ocean Properties Ltd., which owns the Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort, Lido Beach Resort and Holiday Inn Lido Beach, said that the first quarter of 2012 is looking strong compared to the same period of 2011. Rangel said that this year’s guests are booking further in advance than in those in recent years, but meetings and convention groups have made arrangements with shorter notice while being flexible with arrival and departure dates.

“ … I do believe that the beautiful weather has played a significant role in this success, but I also feel sure that the Siesta Key ranking of the No. 1 beach in North America has pushed our destination to the top of many search engines when people are researching their next beach vacation,” Rangel wrote in an email to the Longboat Observer.

Diana Corrigan, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, said that merchants are reporting a strong start to season, with some restaurant owners experiencing January traffic that they expect to exceed that of January 2005.

“We’re feeling very, very positive,” Corrigan said.

Sandra Rios, director of communications at the Longboat Key Club and Resort, said that total room nights for the first quarter of 2012 are on track to exceed those of 2011 by 20% — and the average daily rate is up as well. Rios said that the Key Club has gotten a boost in its wedding business and currently has more weddings booked for 2012 than it had for all of 2011.

“That is a good sign of not only the economy trending upward but the region coming out from under the cloud of the oil spill,” she said.

Rios said that more corporate groups will likely book after year-end revenues are announced.

Bookings at the 106-unit Casa del Mar were up 5% for the first quarter of the resort’s fiscal year, which began in October, compared to the same quarter last year, according to General Manager D.M. Williams. He attributed this year’s boost to overall improvements in the economy and this season’s warm weather. This season has brought more visitors from the United States and Canada but fewer European visitors to the resort, he said.

“When the weather is good, you have people calling their friends up North and telling them it’s 75 or 80 degrees down here, and people are flying out,” Williams said.

Tourist tax
Longboat Key’s collection of tourist-development taxes, which are paid on rentals of less than six months, is up in both Sarasota and Manatee counties. During the first two months of the 2011-12 fiscal year — October and November — in Sarasota County, Longboat Key collected $168,364.21 in tourist taxes, compared to $111,465.60 for the same period in 2010.

During November and December, the first two months of the 2011-12 fiscal year in Manatee County, the Key brought in $110,915.02 — compared to $101,198.03 for the last two months of 2010.