If you run, walk, or bike around the Tampa Convention Center, get ready for a detour. More than 400 feet of the Riverwalk will be closed for a big renovation of the convention center.
Tampa's Riverwalk is an iconic part of the city's downtown and soon the west side of the river will have its own stretch of pedestrian pathway to Tampa Bay.
Glad youâre here, Tampa Bay tourists. But might we help you visit like a local?
Florida can have a strained relationship with the tourists (and their wallets) who visit us by the millions. A few tips from a native on how to love it like a local.
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We here in Florida love our tourists.
Still, a rather harsh bumper sticker made the rounds a few years back: âHappiness is 100,000 Canadians heading home with a New Yorker under each arm,â it said. And, ouch.
The sentiment speaks for the sometimes strained relationship the Sunshine State can have with its perennial visitors â some who are gracious guests, others we wish would learn to love it like we do. And right now people seem particularly eager to come here post-coronavirus confinement, considering the crowds we saw Memorial Day weekend.
For a lot of people, this holiday weekend feels like the first return to normalcy since the pandemic began. Visit Tampa Bay says the tourism industry is already heating up, and summer hasn't even started.
As summer approaches, Florida hotels are expecting an increase in travel and tourism.
More guests are booking rooms in Hillsborough County hotels following months of low occupancy caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Florida’s tourism industry was
hit hard by the pandemic. But as Memorial Day approaches and the number of coronavirus cases falls in Florida and around the country, hotel occupancy rates are bouncing back.
Occupancy rates measure the percentage of available rooms that are occupied in a given period.
For April 2021, Hillsborough County’s rate was 72.2%. That is slightly higher than Florida as a whole (71.5) and much greater than the average for the U.S. (57.5).