- May 4, 2024
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Last year brought an influx of tourists, breaking records across the board, according to county tourism data.
After the record-breaking year for area tourism in 2022, numbers seem to be returning to more typical levels. Local businesses share this sentiment, saying 2022 was a standout year, especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Visit Sarasota County, a nonprofit corporation contracted with Sarasota County, reported that, in April of this year, tourism industry metrics were down compared to that same time in 2022.
“I think it’s important to remember that (the lower numbers) are compared to the most amazing year we have ever had in tourism in our history,” Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County said.
She talked about how a friend of hers had compared 2022 tourism to Secretariat the racehorse.
“All those years since that horse has ran, no one has ever beat that horse’s fastest time, and I think (last year’s tourism) will be our case. I think last year will always be a landmark year.”
Compared to April 2022, here are Sarasota County’s visitation numbers for April 2023:
To gauge who might be coming to the area to visit or to move permanently, Haley said they use something called SITs, or signals of intent, which are an indicator of when a customer is about to make a purchase. Other metrics used are meeting leads, when a corporation asks the area to host a conference in one of its hotels, and through requests for visitor guides or relocation packages either in-person or online.
The Manatee County Tourist Development Council presented a similar trend during its June 5 meeting. Anne Wittine with Research Data Services Inc. presented the following information at the meeting.
Compared to April 2022, Manatee County’s numbers for April 2023 were:
“Last year we were seeing that extreme peak of pent-up demand,” Wittine said at the meeting.
Mote Marine Laboratory reported complementary statistics. In 2022, Mote recorded 378,000 visitors which was a record year, according to their annual report. The previous year saw 306,650 visitors.
With the numbers supporting the idea that 2022 set records, the question remains as to why the year caused this much of a peak.
Some local businesses on Longboat Key share the sentiment that 2022 was a groundbreaking year for the area’s tourism industry.
Bob McFarland, who owns Longboat Key Paddleboard and Kayak and Sarasota PaddleBoard Co., agreed, saying 2022 was “booming.” When comparing this latest season to last, he said it hasn’t been drastic.
“It’s kind of hard to say,” McFarland said. “I don’t think there’s a huge difference from this year to last year, but there is a difference.”
In fact, McFarland said his business has been beating numbers this year, too. He said every month he has the goal of beating the numbers of that month the previous year.
Recent years presented his industry with challenges. First was the devastating red tide event in 2018 that took a toll on businesses like water recreation. McFarland said that the 2018 bloom put them out of business for a couple weeks. But natural events like the 2018 red tide and Hurricane Ian in 2021 are just part of the business, according to McFarland.
“You always have to account for one to two weeks of something,” he said.
McFarland’s businesses have tours and rentals that run almost every day of the year. For them, he said, missing out on two weeks isn’t completely devastating.
“For us it’s a little easier to make up,” McFarland said. “For the hotels, once they lose those room nights, they’re gone.”
Harold and Christine Cullison, who own the Sandpiper Inn, said that 2022 was also a very good year for them.
“Last year was the best year that we’ve had in quite a while,” Harold Cullison said.
Cullison referred to the 2018 red tide as being the first in a series of setbacks. The following year was sort of a “hangover” from the red tide, he said. The Sandpiper Inn’s sales for 2019 had actually gone lower than 2018. Following that was the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, after which Cullison said business got a little better in 2021, but things still weren’t great.
“It wasn’t until 2022 until we finally went ahead of 2018,” Cullison said.
They measure success mainly in occupancy and revenue. Occupancy is how often the rooms are booked. For the Sandpiper Inn, 2022 had about 86% occupancy. This was actually down from 2021, which was 89%.
The Sandpiper Inn is a unique entity on Longboat Key. They are a privately owned hotel, smaller than many of the condo hotels in the area. One full-time employee helps them out, but Cullison said he does all the laundry. Christine handles all the reservations while Harold handles all the numbers through QuickBooks. They bought the property in 2005 and moved in around 2010. According to Harold, they are the only privately owned Longboat hotel where the owners live on-site.
Being privately owned, rising costs have been their biggest challenge. As costs go up, their net revenue decreases.
“When our occupancy goes down, our costs really don’t go down. Very little changes when a room is empty, because most costs are fixed,” Cullison said.
Although they may no longer have a mortgage to pay, Cullison said property tax for each room is one major cost. On top of that, paying to file taxes is another cost.
Despite increasing costs, Cullison said 2023 has been a good year. Sales are a bit ahead, he said, but not occupancy. Around this time of year, the more common one-bedroom unit at the Sandpiper costs a little over $190 before tax.
“So far, the only thing that was down was that usually May is extremely good, but this May wasn’t as good as it normally is,” he said.
Lauren Tronstad contributed to the reporting of this story.
