'Dr. Beach' helps Sarasota to record summer - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
SARASOTA - Sarasota County just had its best summer tourism season ever, thanks in large part to Siesta Key's late May designation as the best beach in the nation.
The record in tourism-related tax collections, particularly in July and August, was also driven by pent-up demand and an incrementally improving economy.
Collections rose by 31 percent in August.
"Plain and simple, this was the best summer this destination has ever seen," said Virginia Haley, president of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Manatee County also reported a spike this summer, with tourism tax collection rising by double digits; the number of visitors increased by 8.5 percent, while occupancy rose by an average 7.4 percent in the key markets of Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key.
Although many factors contributed to the region's success, Haley underscored the importance of the May 27 announcement by researcher Dr. Stephen Leatherman — "Dr. Beach" — that Siesta Key's beachfront was tops in the nation for this year.
"We could not have asked for better timing," Haley said.
Whether the summer boost carries through to winter remains to be seen.
Although bookings for early 2012 are strong, analysts say low consumer confidence, combined with general economic uncertainty, could dampen future travel to Florida and elsewhere.
Also worrisome is the recent presence of red tide in the waters off Englewood and south, though currents appear to be shifting the bloom away from this region.
For now, the boost for Sarasota and Manatee counties dovetails with a statewide uptick in 2011, following two consecutive years crimped by economic recession, cold and rainy weather, and the four-month BP oil spill.
Statewide, the total number of visitors from April to June — the most recent months for which data is available — rose 7 percent when compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Visit Florida, the state's tourism agency. Summer figures are expected on Nov. 15.
The second-quarter performance marked a welcome change from a succession of recession-plagued years for Florida's biggest industry, which accounts for more than one-fifth of all the state's sales tax and employs nearly 1 million.
In Manatee County, tourist tax collections also rose by 19 percent in June and 20 percent in July from a year earlier, according to data from the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau show.
Total economic impact in Manatee was up 11.2 percent during the summer months. At the same time, direct consumer spending in key markets rose 13 percent this summer, to $72 million, from the summer of 2010.
Those kinds of increases filtered down to vacation rentals in both counties, reversing years of stagnant lodging rates that forced hoteliers and condominium owners alike to postpone repairs and improvements and cut back on advertising.
Karen Rangel, regional sales director for the company that owns the Lido Beach Resort, the Holiday Inn Lido Beach and the Longboat Key Hilton, said summer 2011 was a big improvement over recent years.
"There seemed to be lots of pickup on the weekends. We had another great Fourth of July, and even into August, lots of families traveling," Rangel said.
"I have nothing but good things to say about summer."
The three local lodging properties, and others in Ocean Properties' portfolio, also saw an important boost in group business, which often translates into individual vacation stays.
Wedding business also surged because brides planning destination weddings sought out Southwest Florida hotels after Googling "No. 1 beach in the nation," Rangel said.
"We definitely had a lot of inquiries, asking how far we were from Siesta," she said. "Thanks to Dr. Beach — I hope we can keep riding that wave."
Edward C. Braunlich, manager of the Hyatt Siesta Key Beach, a luxury fractional ownership resort near the southern tip of the beach, hopes so, too.
The 44-unit resort had its best summer since opening in August 2009.
"We had a very successful summer, and the Dr. Beach designation was almost certainly one of the contributing factors," Braunlich said.
"The rating is great for Sarasota County, because it drives awareness of just how incredible the county is."
In a good year, Sarasota County might rack up about 90 million "media impressions" — in newspapers, magazines, on television, radio and the Internet — worldwide.
This year, the county has garnered 434 million, said Haley, the tourism bureau president.
Many of those impressions have translated into trips, and the trips into expenditures, data shows.
In June, the county collected $704,000 in tourist taxes, a 17 percent boost from a year ago and a mark that just missed a record set in 2007.
That same month, the latest for which figures are available, visitor spending rose 14 percent from a year ago, to $40 million, on an 11 percent gain in total visitors, according to visitors bureau data.
July's $818,062 tax collection also was impressive: 17 percent higher than last year and 12 percent more than the county record, also set in 2007.
But August provided the biggest surprise. Tax collections for that month surged to $508,429, smashing 2008's record take by 5 percentage points.
Siesta Key properties accounted for nearly a third of that total.
At the same time, the county's lodging properties posted better average daily rates, occupancy and revenue available per room than a peer group that includes Naples, Fort Myers, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
The figures show that travelers who shied away from the area last summer, most likely concerned about the local implications of the BP oil spill, returned this year.
"One of the concerns we had last summer was whether people who went elsewhere would decide they like somewhere else," Haley said. "Thankfully, the numbers tell me people understand the unique nature of the county, and they've returned."
In May, Leatherman's ranking was expected to result in a 15 to 20 percent jump in tourism in the county, and generate total expenditures of as much as $446 million.
To ensure that those numbers are reached, Haley said, the bureau is planning a series of television advertisements this fall and winter to Northeast markets including Baltimore, Boston and New York.
Those ads come amid a planned heavy-rotation television campaign — the first in a decade — with the proceeds of $1 million in new marketing funds in Tampa and Orlando.
"We've been able to properly tout the designation, and I think that's made a big difference," Haley said. "We've just worked the daylights out of Dr. Beach."
16 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHbDL3-b7Ecpz9X5X240OLiPAq89A&url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111015/ARTICLE/111019676/-1/sports?Title=-Dr-Beach-helps-Sarasota-County-to-a-record-summer-for-tourism
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